A Flashlight to See in the Dark
by Kazyre
Summary: When Iris dies suddenly, leaving Barry to raise their 3-year old nephew by himself, Hal Jordan steps up to help out his best friend. Years pass, friendship grows into something much more, and somehow the three of them become a family. Story will span Wally's life from age 3 all the way to the formation of the Team - will be mostly humor and fluff.
1. Chapter 1

(Author's Note: This story is being written for the awesome MythologyGirl, who gave me the idea for the story and greatly improved on the original title I had. Thank you for letting me write it and I hope you enjoy!)

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"Too slow,_ Flash_," Professor Zoom's fist slammed into Barry's jaw with the force of a pickup truck. He went down hard in the street, cracking his head on the asphalt painfully. Barry's vision went black for a split second and he rolled to the side when he heard a garbage truck honking at him frantically. The tires passed by inches from his head and Barry jumped up lightning fast. Sight returned to him amidst a flurry of grey specks and he felt for the vibrational disturbances Zoom was carelessly leaving in his wake.

He was heading west.

Barry gave chase, weaving through rush hour traffic and down sidewalks packed with people going home for the night. He sped around a corner, ruffling clothes and blowing half the newspapers from a stand into the street, and spotted a yellow streak of lightning burning up the side of a skyscraper. Barry raced the six blocks to the building, closing the gap in under three seconds.

He was pushing himself faster than he'd dared to run in the city before. Glass and concrete buckled beneath the soles of his boots as he ran up the side of the building. Barry was usually more careful in his city, but he couldn't afford to hold back when he was fighting Eobard Thawne. He'd learned quickly that Thawne wasn't afraid of murdering innocent bystanders as a way of taunting Barry and sending a crystal clear message.

If he was too slow, people would die.

Barry didn't know if it was just Professor Zoom's sadistic nature, or a sick way of pushing him to be a better hero. He gritted his teeth and closed in on Zoom, feeling the lightning arcing off him stinging his chest and shoulders like static.

Thawne veered left suddenly and ran around the side of the skyscraper to throw him off, but Barry didn't fall for it. He continued straight up, remembering that Thawne had a nasty habit of trying to knock him off the sides of buildings. When he reached the roof, Barry started looking around on high alert, expecting Professor Zoom to come charging up at him any second.

Suddenly, a woman's terrified scream rent the air. It echoed in Barry's ears and turned his head to the direction that Zoom had disappeared to. Oh God… This office high rise had a balcony garden seating area attached to that side.

More screams and the sounds of dishes breaking and chairs being overturned rose up to the roof. Barry felt his heart stop and he dashed to the edge. Damnit! He'd made a mistake. Five stories below, Professor Zoom was standing with one foot braced on the ledge of the balcony. He held a sobbing woman dressed in a dark business suit by the throat and was dangling her off the edge, face turned up and grinning darkly up at Barry.

As soon as Thawne saw that he was looking, his fingers let go and he dropped the woman. She plunged out of sight and Barry launched himself down the building. He jumped onto the balcony in a roll, landing amongst fleeing diners running back inside, and went right passed Zoom without sparing him a second glance. He chased the woman's fading scream instead, pounding his feet down the wall and putting gravity to shame.

"I've got you!" Barry reached her in a second and wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her close and making sure to keep running so that the momentum didn't snap her spine. He gradually decreased his speed as he neared the ground, fluidly making the transition from a vertical track to a horizontal one. He was just setting the trembling woman on the ground when he heard another deeper holler from above.

Barry looked up and saw an older man falling from the balcony. He could just barely make out the bright yellow figure of Professor Zoom waving down at him before he disappeared in a crackle of sparks. Barry cursed under his breath and quickly calculated where the man's trajectory was going to make him land. He zipped to the correct spot and held both arms above his head. He aimed for the falling man and rotated his arms in circles at superspeed, creating one giant funnel of air that slowed his descent enough for Barry to safely catch him.

The man was ruffled from the fall, but he looked largely unharmed for the most part. Barry set him on his feet and kept a hand on his shoulder in case he collapsed, "Are you okay?"

He nodded shakily, eyes still wide with fear, "He-He said 'Three strikes, you're out.' He told me to tell you that. I don't know what that means…"

Barry frowned in surprise. Three strikes? Since when were he and Professor Zoom playing a _game_? What did he mean…? Thawne had attacked him three times this year so far – each time just taunting him. He'd attack out of nowhere, run a path of destruction through Central, and then just _leave_. But, he'd never left anything like a message before. And this time, he'd gone after Barry at work. He'd just burst right into the CCPD and started tearing the place up. Did that meant he knew Barry's identity? How? Barry had always been so careful to keep it concealed. He had to be exceptionally cautious because his wife, Iris, would be in as much danger as _he_ would.

And so would his toddler nephew, Wally. Barry and Iris had adopted him a year ago when he was two years old. At the time, they'd just celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary and Barry was so in love with Iris that he could never deny her anything. So, when she asked him if they could take in her nephew after his mother and father died in a horrible car crash, Barry said yes. And even though Wally had only been living with them for a year, Barry had grown unexpectedly fond of the adorable little redhead. He'd rather cut off his legs than let anything happen to Wally or Iris.

But, what was going to happen now that he'd hit three strikes?

"Thank you," the man he'd caught clasped Barry's arm tightly, staring at him intently. "Really, young man. _Thank you_."

"Anytime," Barry replied with a smile, patting him on the shoulder awkwardly. Several people on the sidewalk who had seen what happened started applauding him and Barry waved at them briefly before dashing off to double check the balcony for any more damage that Professor Zoom might have caused.

Four years doing this and he still wasn't comfortable with all the adoration he got when he was Flash. Jay Garrick had warned him when he passed down the mantle, but Barry hadn't been fully prepared for an entire _city_ to worship him.

'Anytime…' he thought unhappily as he darted around the balcony garden righting tables and clearing broken glass, remembering his own lame response. Superman, _Clark_, would have come up with something heroic to say. It was all Barry could do to keep himself from blushing at the attention. He was twenty-seven for Christ's sake! And he could _think_ at the speed of sound. He really needed to write up some dialogue for his Flash persona.

He finished the cleanup and booked it back to the police station where his coworkers in the lab and every available officer were still trying to hold it together after Professor Zoom's unprovoked attack. Barry dashed into the crime lab's supply closet before anyone could see him and changed out of his uniform, stuffing it back into the hollow compartment in the ring he wore around his finger. Barry slipped into the clothes he'd stashed there before going after Zoom and fished around in the pockets of the stiff white lab coat for his cell phone.

Barry had been in the opposite end of the police station when Thawne attacked, and had suited up before Zoom even got the chance to get _near_ Barry Allen, forensic analyst. So, he was pretty confident that Thawne had no idea who he was. Nevertheless, the fact that Zoom had targeted _his_ workplace had him nervous.

He speed dialed his wife and tapped his foot restlessly against the floor while he waited for her to pick up.

_"Hello?"_

"Iris," he breathed in relief, covering his forehead with one hand and grinning as he closed his eyes. "Are you alright? Where are you?"

He heard his wife's feminine laugh through the receiver, _"At home, of course. You dialed the house, you goof."_

Barry pulled the phone away from his ear to stare at the small square screen for an instant before bring it back up. Yes he had… He took a deep breath and cupped his hand around the mouthpiece, lowering his voice when the sound of running footsteps squeaked by the closet door from the outside, "Sorry, I'm a little frazzled. I just went a round with Professor Zoom again and I wanted to make sure you were safe. He attacked the station this time and that's a little too close for comfort for me."

_"Wally and I are both fine,"_ Iris' voice turned serious, tinged with worry. _"You're not hurt, are you? Last time-"_

"No," Barry cut her off before she had the chance to worry more. "I was just checking in. The forensics crew is probably going to be sent home for the night while the captain sorts all of this mess out. I should be there soon."

_"Take your time,"_ Iris replied easily. She was so effortlessly understanding of both his day job and his work as the Flash. _"I'm almost finished with dinner, but I'll keep it warm for you."_ Then, her voice got a little quieter like she was covering the receiver's microphone and speaking to someone in the room with her, _"Wally, sweetie, would you clean off the table for me, please? Just stick those magazines on the dresser in my room. I'll put them away later. Thank you, honey."_

Barry smiled down at his shoes in the dark closet, "You sound like you're busy; I'll let you go. See you in a bit."

_"See you soon,"_ she mimicked. _"I love you."_

"Love you too, babe," Barry closed the phone with a snap and replaced it in his pocket, running his hands through his hair a few times to get rid of the matted down helmet hair look his costume sometimes gave him.

He carefully slipped out of the closet and jogged down the hall to where Captain Frye was addressing the entire crime lab. Barry squeezed in beside two of the blood spatter analysts and tried to look like he'd been there the whole time. The captain ordered them all to evacuate while the building's integrity was being decided and give their statements about what happened to the officers outside.

Barry did as he was told, moving outside with the rest of his coworkers and giving a heavily doctored statement to one of the beat cops making their rounds. He was just about to leave after they'd all been dismissed and given leave to go home when Captain Frye approached him in the parking lot. Barry felt a little funny standing around in his lab coat, but he shrugged it tighter around his body against the deepening chill of dusk.

"You alright, Barry?" he asked, brushing dust and a little bit of soot out of his grey hair. His normally perfectly creased suit jacket was slung over his arm, and his shirt and suspenders were rumpled and stained.

"Better than you, Captain," Barry nodded to his obvious state of dishevelment.

"Oh, I was in the station's lobby when Professor Zoom burst in. The friction from his speed set a small fire and we had a little trouble putting it out," Frye looked down at himself with a wry shrug. "And you can call me Darryl, son. I think we've known each other long enough that you don't have to call me Captain."

It was true. Barry had known Captain Frye since he was a boy. He'd been a close family friend and had let Barry stay with him for a year after his mother's death until he was able to support himself. Barry considered the police captain family, but that wasn't going to stop him from showing the man the proper respect he deserved at work. He couldn't help flashing a cheeky grin at him, "That's probably true, Captain."

Frye just fixed him with an exhausted stare and shook his head, smiling, "I'm glad you're okay. I'd heard that the crime lab was untouched, but you never know. You could've been flirting with the ladies over in evidence lock-up."

Barry raised an eyebrow and gave Frye an unamused glare. Marge, the evidence and property technician was sixty-two and had grandchildren older than he was. "I don't think Iris _or_ Marge's husband would appreciate that very much."

Frye burst out in loud, belly laughs.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Barry smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. "I know I'm not much of an action and danger guy like your detectives, but I've seen my fair share over the years. I'm not going to go post-traumatic stress disorder on you, don't worry."

"With all the crap the Rogues pull in this city, I'm surprised the whole damn town isn't desensitized to the attacks," Frye sighed wearily and eyed the flashing red and blue lights of the squad cars surrounding the station. He jerked his thumb towards his own car and gave Barry an amiable slap on the shoulder. "You need a ride home tonight?"

Barry shook his head, looking up at the rapidly waning sunset, "It's not too dark; I think I'll just hoof it. Thanks for the offer though, Cap."

He'd be able to make it home faster on foot than letting Frye drive him.

"Well, you be careful," Frye warned him with a small smile even as he squinted out across the darkening plaza. "You never know what's out there. Especially in this city."

Barry knew better than most, but he didn't let on. He just nodded good-naturedly, "Will do, sir."

Barry made his way passed the large fountain decorating the plaza in front of the station, receiving several waves and calls to have a good night. He turned onto the sidewalk and went down a few blocks at normal speed before he ducked behind a vacant pawn shop to change into the Flash uniform. He wanted to do a quick once over of the city before he turned in for the night and went home.

He flicked the secret clasp on his Flash ring for the second time that day and caught his suit once it shot out. He changed into it in the blink of an eye and then he was burning across Central City, doing a thorough circuit through the different sections and across the bridges spanning the Missouri River.

It was a quiet night. The Rogues seemed to have retired early – at least they respected normal sleep schedules. Barry didn't know how Batman stalked his city all night _and_ handled a day job. Come to think of it…what _was_ his day job? Barry honestly couldn't imagine the dark protector of Gotham doing anything like working a drive-thru or stuck in an office cubicle. Maybe he was like a pro wrestler or a football player or something. He was way too built.

He stopped a few muggings, a convenience store robbery, and talked down one lonely teen preparing to jump off the Keystone Bridge.

It was near 7:00pm when he finally headed towards Danville where he and Iris lived. He preferred living in the quiet, residential section of Central as opposed to the city's center. Two seconds later, he was back in plain clothes and on the front porch of his house. He stuck his key in the lock and shouldered his way inside, "I'm home, babe. Sorry I'm extra late; I wanted to look for Thawne one more time before I…"

He trailed off when he saw that the entire living room was slightly hazy with thin smoke. Further in, the fire alarms were going off shrilly. Barry shut the door with his foot and shrugged off his coat, dashing into the dining room and fanning the detector at superspeed until it went quiet. He grimaced and buried his nose in the crook of his elbow as he smelled the overpowering, acrid odor of something burning, "Iris! You fall asleep cooking or something?"

He was smiling when he said it; both he and Iris were prone to forgetting things when they were cooking. In Barry's case, it was setting timers. His powers messed up his sense of time occasionally, and he'd let things overcook all the time. Barry zipped into the kitchen next, intending to turn off the stove and fan the smoke detector in here too.

He made it four steps in and rounded the counter only to catch his foot on something and be sent stumbling into the cabinets. Barry braced himself before he fell into the sink, bending his wrist the wrong way painfully in the process. He shook his hand to relieve some of the stinging ache and found his balance again.

'Right,' he thought, turning off the two burners on the stove and moving the frying pan full of what used to be food but was now charcoal into the sink. 'That's why there's no superspeed in the house.'

Plus, Wally was getting old enough to know who the Flash was and make the connection. Barry and Iris still weren't sure yet whether they wanted him to know the secret or not. He was so young that he wouldn't understand the need for secrecy and he might let it slip without meaning to.

Barry turned around to see what he'd tripped over and almost slipped on something spilled all over the floor. He looked down and saw thick red smeared where he'd stepped and the body of his wife sprawled motionless on the ground by the dishwasher.

He just stared at her for a long minute, not really processing what he was seeing. In the background, one of the smoke detectors started going off again, but he barely heard it. Barry slowly sank down to his knees and brushed his fingers through the red liquid uncomprehendingly, "…Iris…?"

She was lying on her side with her eyes closed and a limp hand resting over a dark red hole in her chest. There wasn't any response to his question.

Barry started trembling as he looked down at his bloody hands. The numb shock that had taken over broke suddenly and Barry felt his heart rip in two. He scrambled forward and pressed his fingers to Iris' neck, "_Iris?!_ Honey, look at me!"

She didn't budge.

He pulled her into his arms, feeling his eyes burn with frantic tears, "Open your eyes, _please_! Iris?"

Her head lolled back in his arms and her hair spilled back away from her face, revealing the words 'Strike Three' written on her cheek with her own blood. Barry's trembling ceased and he went completely still. Professor Zoom had done this…? He _did_ know Barry's identity – and Iris had paid the price for it.

He carefully ran his fingers through Iris' hair and saw the pretty red strands seem to slow as they fell until they were frozen in midair. Barry knew he was slipping into relative time, but he didn't try to fight it as everything stopped around him.

He knew that it was dangerous to exist in a frame of reality so much faster than the rest of the world – knew that there was always the possibility that he could get stuck in it forever – but he didn't care. If he could stay just like this with Iris, living through seconds as long as days, it would be okay.

Barry just pulled her closer and wrapped both arms around his wife, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He closed his eyes and completely detached himself from time, letting his speed run wild. There was no point holding on; Iris had always been his anchor. Without her, there weren't many people capable of bringing him out of it.

It felt like weeks that he sat there cradling Iris' body before anything changed. He heard the long drawn out sounds of someone entering the home. He didn't even bother looking up until they'd reached the kitchen days later and that's when he saw who his guests were.

Wonder Woman and Superman.

Diana was frozen in a walking position and Clark looked like he was moving in extreme slow motion. It was impressive that Barry could perceive him as moving _at all_. He hadn't known that Clark was that fast. His expression morphed at a snail's pace from confusion and concern to shock once he saw all the blood.

"Barry," Clark spoke in a deep, achingly slow voice. "What happened?!"

"Zoom…" Barry said as slowly as he could manage. He pulled back and looked down at the blood all over his chest and arms. Iris' blood…

Again, Clark's expression changed painfully slowly and Barry watched it cycle through dread, anger, pity, sadness, and concern again. It felt like another day had passed before he spoke again and started leaning down to touch Barry's shoulder, "You need to slow down. I can barely see you."

Barry moved away from him and stared at the fingers still outstretched towards him. It would take another day for them to reach him, "No point."

Behind Clark, Diana still hadn't moved an inch. He kept trying to appeal to Barry in slow motion, despite the difficulty he was having keeping up, "Come on, please don't give up. Your wife wouldn't want that. Just slow down for _her_."

Barry felt a tear roll down his cheek as he looked at Iris. _She_ was the only one he'd ever wanted to slow down for. Being with her didn't feel slow at all. The rest of the world could drag on and on at times for him, but Iris had made it all normal somehow. Now she was gone.

But, Clark was right; Iris wouldn't have wanted him to collapse and give up. He could slow down one more time for her.

He took a deep, shuddering breath and closed his eyes. His mind started to pull against the almost irresistible force that was calling him to go faster – to get up and _run_ – and he felt its influence retreating. Barry kept breathing, willing his heartbeat to decrease and picturing Iris' face as he fought to return to the rest of the world's time.

"Flash?" He felt a soft hand on his shoulder after what felt like several hours and opened his eyes to see Diana crouched in front of him. Her blue eyes were fathomless with sorrow and compassion, and Barry couldn't stand to look at her. "Are you back with us?"

Clark already knew that he was and he was scanning the rest of the house cautiously, "Where did Professor Zoom go? Did you see him attack her?"

"She was dead when I got home…" Barry mumbled in stunned numbness, afraid to move any more in case he woke up Iris. She looked like she could be sleeping – but she wasn't. "Why are you here…?"

"J'onn called us," Diana told him quietly, dropping her eyes to the ground. "He always keeps part of his mind open to us and he picked up on a sudden spike of severe emotional distress coming from you. He was worried and asked us to check on you."

"Do you want us to go after Zoom?" Clark offered his help immediately, but Diana held out a hand to silence him.

She curled gentle fingers along Barry's jaw and lifted his head until they were eye to eye, "Who should we call for you?"

Her peaceful voice helped keep Barry calm. He blinked slowly and shook his head disjointedly, trying to answer her but coming up with nothing.

"Not yet?" Diana supplied graciously with a tilt of her head. She settled down on the floor opposite him. "That's okay. You want to spend a little more time with her. May we stay here until you're ready?"

Barry's throat constricted painfully and his eyes welled up with tears as he nodded.

Clark didn't ask any more about Thawne. He just remained silent and stood back, clasping his hands in front of himself respectfully. Diana reached for Iris' hair, pausing long enough to give Barry the opportunity to tell her to stop if he wanted. He didn't. She brushed aside the vibrant red tresses gingerly and wiped off the words Zoom had written on her cheek.

"She's very beautiful," Diana commented with a tentative smile.

Barry had always thought so. He couldn't remember a time before he and Iris were together. She was his whole world. He knew he talked about her incessantly to the other six Leaguers, but they'd never complained – at least not to his face. His heart gave another agonizing twist and Barry could feel the loss of Iris digging into him.

"I remember you always said that you loved her eyes the most," Diana finished removing the blood and sat back to give him space. Clark continued to watch them both mournfully.

Iris' eyes had been breathtaking. They were what had drawn Barry to her the first time they'd met at a crime scene. She'd been one of the many reporters clamoring against the tape perimeter to get a statement from the police, but her eyes had made her stand out. They'd been so full of intelligence and spirit that Barry _had_ to chase her down later and ask for a date. He'd never seen eyes so _green_ before.

…Except…

Terror hit Barry over the head like a baseball bat. He jerked upright, startling both Diana and Clark, and felt his body begin to vibrate again with nervous dread, "Wally!"

"Who is Wally?" Clark asked quickly, getting ready to stop him if he tried to slip into relative time again. He exchanged a concerned expression with Diana, who was looking just as startled.

"He was here!" Barry gasped in horror, clutching Iris' body convulsively. He'd heard her talking to Wally on the phone earlier when he was at the station! Where was he?! Barry started to rise to his feet, but stopped when he remembered that he was still holding Iris. He floundered in a panic for a moment, wanting to run and find his nephew but not wanting to leave his wife by herself.

"I'll keep her safe for you," Diana held out her arms to him and Barry's thoughts whirled trying to come to a decision. He hesitantly handed Iris over and watched Diana cradle her delicately for a few seconds before he was satisfied. She looked up at him patiently and nodded to show him that she wouldn't move until he got back, "Go."

Then, Barry was zipping all over the house at superspeed, calling Wally's name desperately. He checked behind the couch, in the den, under all the beds, in the bathroom, even the shed in the back yard. He ran back inside the house and started all over again, tearing doors off their hinges and overturning furniture, "_Wally!"_

Oh God, what if Thawne had killed him too?!

"Barry!" Clark was suddenly in front of him, holding him by the shoulders with a steel grip. "Calm down and think. I don't know who Wally is, but just take a second and think about where he would go if he was threatened."

Barry vibrated anxiously, letting his mind run a thousand miles per hour to come up with the answer. Where would Wally run to if Professor Zoom was after him? He wouldn't have time to go anywhere. Thawne would have killed him right on the spot. Unless… Unless he wasn't in the room when Iris was killed. Barry remembered the conversation he'd had with Iris again. She'd asked Wally to take some magazines into their room. That must've been right before Zoom attacked.

"The closet!" Wally always hid in their closet during thunderstorms because it wasn't by any of the windows.

Clark frowned in abrupt confusion and released Barry's arms, "The closet…? Who-"

Barry didn't stay long enough to hear the rest of his sentence. He sprinted into his and Iris' room a second later, grabbing the doorframe to swing his momentum to the side. There were magazines lying crumbled on the floor right beside the dresser and one of the bottom drawers was pulled out like Wally had used it as a step to reach the top. Barry dashed to the closet and yanked the slatted doors open violently, dropping to his knees and crawling forward in the dark, "Wally?! Wally, are you here?!"

A small sniffle came from the very back of the closet and Barry started shoving aside coats and pants frantically. He pushed away one of Iris' long dresses that she'd worn for the policeman's ball last year and almost cried out in relief when he saw Wally's tiny body huddled underneath the skirt's hem. He had his tiny knees pulled up to his chin and his arms wrapped around his legs, sniffing and crying silently in terror.

Wally looked up with red, watery eyes and hiccupped. He was shaking like a leaf and sobbing quietly, but he was unhurt.

"Thank God," Barry breathed, hanging his head bonelessly. He reached out to grab Wally and the little boy flinched, letting loose a pitiful sob. He just pulled Wally out of the closet and into his lap, crushing him against his chest. "You're okay…"

Two little arms wound around his neck desperately and Wally clung to him like a koala. He cried into Barry's shirt and it broke his heart. Barry kept one hand on his back and smoothed down his unruly mop of fiery hair. Fresh tears streamed down his face as he heard a small voice cry 'Uncle Barry' into his collar.

"It's okay, kiddo," Barry said soothingly, unable to believe that he'd forgotten about the young child in his grief. He held Wally close and rocked him back and forth slowly. "You're safe. I've got you."

"Wally is your nephew… He was here when it happened?!"

Clark was standing in the doorway looking shocked, the red and blue of his uniform somehow seeming less impressive in the dark room. He must've heard Wally call him 'uncle'.

"He's my son now," Barry corrected him, already feeling better with Wally in his arms. He didn't feel that frantic need to run anymore – to lose himself in time. "Iris and I adopted him last year."

"How come you never mentioned him?"

Barry checked to see how Wally was doing before he answered. The young redhead was very still and his breathing had evened out. He didn't know if Wally had cried himself to sleep or just dropped from sheer exhaustion, "It was a little before the League was formed. We wanted to wait a while until Wally was settled in and more comfortable with us before telling anyone. Hal knows, but that's it."

Clark nodded like he understood completely, "Barry, I'm so sorry. If you need _anything_, just say the word."

Barry didn't move from his spot on the floor. He absently rubbed Wally's back and gave him a kiss on the top of his head, "Find Professor Zoom."

"Where does he hide out?" Clark asked without offering any complaints.

"The future," Barry spoke bluntly. He looked up at Clark with hard eyes. "He doesn't operate like the Rogues. Clark, he knows who I am. He probably didn't know we'd taken Wally in and that's why he wasn't attacked. But, if he finds out…"

"I won't let that happen," Clark vowed firmly, looking down at Wally as he spoke. "He'll be in Belle Reve before the night's over. Leave it to me."

"Thank you," Barry told him whole-heartedly. He wiped his forearm over his eyes and blinked to clear them.

"Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?" he asked with concern. "It's not safe here."

"I can stay in Keystone. I have a friend there," Barry sighed tiredly. He carefully got to his feet and shifted Wally more comfortably to his hip. "But, I need to call the police first. God, I don't know what to tell them. I'm a forensic tech and I absolutely destroyed my own wife's crime scene…"

"I'm sure they'll understand," Clark put a hand on his shoulder, his eyebrows turning downwards worriedly.

Barry just nodded, digging in his pocket for his cell phone, "I'm going outside to make the call. Can you tell Diana for me? I…I don't want Wally to see…I don't…all the blood-"

"Of course," he pushed Barry towards the door. "She'll come up with something to tell the police; don't worry about that."

Barry kept his eyes on the ground as he made his way through the house to the front door. He didn't want to accidentally see anything that would tempt him to back into the kitchen – anything that reminded him of Iris. It still didn't seem real. She was dead…how-?

He numbly slipped through the door and closed it behind him, stepping out into the night air and hearing crickets chirping softly in the grass. Barry walked down the porch to the bottom step and sat down, leaning back so that Wally could rest against his shoulder. His cell phone screen glowed brightly against the dark and Barry scrolled through his contacts slowly. His bloody fingers left sticky red smears on the buttons.

A shudder ripped up Barry's spine and he roughly scrubbed his hand against his pants to try and clean it off a little. He inhaled sharply and held it, blinking rapidly against the tears filling his eyes again. Did he want to call Captain Frye's private line? What would he say? Barry desperately wanted to hear the older man's reassuring voice and was too afraid to call at the same time. He closed out the list and dialed 911 instead, putting the phone on speaker and resting it against his forehead.

_"911. This is operator 29. What is your emergency?"_

Barry opened his mouth and spoke mechanically, "My wife was murdered. I need…I need a deputy sent out to Danville. The address is 3837 Phil Tyner Road."

_"Are you alone, sir? What's your name?"_

"I'm with my son and…Wonder Woman. My name is Barry Allen. I work at the CCPD under Captain Darryl Frye."

The operator paused for a moment. Barry didn't recognize her voice over the phone, but she obviously knew his name, _"…Barry? Are you alright? Is the attacker still on the premises?" _

"No," he croaked. "He's not here."

_"I'm sending an ambulance and as many squad cars as I can,"_ she said clearly, and Barry could hear the concern in her voice now that she knew he was a cop. _"You said Wonder Woman was there? Do you know the attacker?"_

Barry's mind thought up a plausible excuse for Wonder Woman's presence and spoke loud enough for Clark to hear him inside the house. He could relay the words to Diana to coordinate the story, "Yes. She showed up shortly after I arrived. She was chasing Prof…fessor Zoom… I think he did it."

He shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath to cover the nauseating rage that swept over him at the thought of Thawne.

_"Alright, Barry. Just stay calm like you are right now,"_ the operator told him firmly. _"Help is on the way."_

"Thank you," Barry mumbled miserably, closing his cell phone with a snap and setting it on the step beside him. He wrapped his arm around Wally again and rested his cheek atop the boy's head, staring disconnectedly at the walkway leading to the sidewalk. Wally snuggled closer to him in his sleep and Barry felt his heart twist painfully.

They sat there for around five minutes until the sound of sirens approached from far away, the wailing getting louder and louder. Red and Blue lights started bouncing off windows and the sides of houses at the end of the street and Barry readied himself for the inevitable. All the noise startled Wally awake and the young boy looked up at Barry in alarm as six squad cars pulled into the driveway in front of the house.

Barry just squeezed his son tighter and felt his heart crumble. Captain Frye got out of one of the squad cars and started towards them at a run with two other officers at his sides. Again, they seemed to move too slowly in his perceptions, but Barry didn't feel the warning pull that told him he was slipping into relative time. He was firmly held in the present by the small child in his arms.

Wally was his anchor now.


	2. Chapter 2

Hal Jordan touched down in Coast City a little before 9:00pm. He flew into an empty Ferris Aircraft hangar that he'd 'accidentally' disabled the security cameras to and powered down his ring, feeling his Green Lantern's light retreating from around his body. Hal jammed his arms into his flight jacket and shrugged it tighter around his shoulders, wincing a little when he agitated the giant bruise currently occupying his right shoulder blade. He'd taken a small meteor right to the side while protecting the planet Ramnos from what would have been a fatal meteor strike.

He'd have to put some ice on it before he went so sleep.

Sneaking out to where he'd discreetly parked his car, Hal dodged a handful of hired security guards and was on his way home before they even figured out someone was on the premises after hours. He made to his apartment building in record time thanks to the lack of traffic and was sticking his key in the lock right at 8:50.

He kicked the door shut behind him and carelessly tossed his keys on the floor where he kicked off his shoes. The apartment was dark, just like he'd left it, and he didn't bother turning on any lights. Hal just made his way passed the sparsely furnished living room and glanced at the answering machine as he went by. The indicator light was silently blinking red and a number flashed on the screen in time with it.

Thirty-three messages?! Hal caught himself on the doorframe and stared down at the phone in disbelief. He picked up the receiver and pressed the caller ID button, groaning when it displayed over fifty missed calls.

Well, crap. That meant something big had gone down while he was off planet on Corps business. He doubted that the messages were all from beautiful ladies calling for his affections. He'd only been gone three weeks and he'd broken it off with Carol again right before he left, so he hadn't had a chance to break any hearts lately.

Speaking of Carol, Hal noticed one of her shoes lying beneath the coffee table. He raised an eyebrow at the offending shoe and dropped the phone back into the cradle, stalking into the kitchen and opening the fridge to grab a beer. He popped it open with a ring construct and strolled lazily back into the living room, downing half the bottle before reaching over to hit 'play' on the machine.

The answering machine beeped and Hal reclined in the moonlight glowing through the window, tipping the bottle to his lips tiredly.

"You have…thirty-three messages. Playing March 11th, 4:00pm. _'Hey, Hal. It's Janice. I just wanted to know if you were going to be able to make Jack's birthday party tomorrow. Give us a ring when you get this, thanks.'_"

Hal squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall back with a groan. He'd forgotten his brother's birthday. Again… That would take some smoothing over.

"March 12th, 11:45pm. _'Hal, it's Clark. We've tried to get hold of you several times. Call me when you get this.'_"

Hal chewed on his lip, counting the days in his head. The twelfth was something like a week and a half or two weeks ago. Whatever 'crisis' they'd had was definitely solved by now. He propped his feet up on the coffee table, hooking one ankle over the other comfortably.

"March 13th, 1:06am. _'It's Clark again. I really need you to call me back. As soon as you can. It's important.'_"

Hal just rolled his eyes, already thinking about taking another vacation day to recover and sleeping in tomorrow.

The next message played, and this time it was at 1:30am from Diana. _'Hal. Pick up your phone. _Now_. You didn't tell any of us you left and no one knows when you're coming back. Contact us immediately when you return.'_

Jeez, she was such a ball-buster. Hal wrinkled his nose at the Amazon's voice, wondering what kind of disaster they'd needed him for so early in the morning. Typhoon? Alien invasion? Starro again? Robot doppelgangers?

"March 13th, 3:00am. _'Hal. We have been unable to hail you on your communicator. Contact either Happy Harbor or Central City as soon as you are able.'_" That time it was J'onn. Hal's curiosity was piqued now. Did that mean whatever went down happened in Barry's city? He felt a little bad about not being there now, but Barry was the best. He could handle anything.

The next twenty messages continued in the same fashion: Clark, Diana, or J'onn asking him to respond all day and into the 14th. Diana's messages were downright hostile and Clark's were pleading. Eventually, it came to 9:00pm on the 14th and Batman's voice came over the answering machine – grim and terse, _'Jordan. You left without your communicator and this will _not_ happen again. There's been an emergency. Call _someone_ the second you get this.'_

That one was a little unnerving. Hal didn't really want to be on Batman's bad side – although he seemed sort of destined for it. The League had only been around for a year and he'd already managed to tick off Batman and Wonder Woman at least a dozen times.

The next message played and it was Clark again. He sounded different this time, not harried or anxious, just…sad. _'It doesn't look like you're going to make it back in time, so I might as well tell you so that you know as soon as possible.'_

The tone of his voice and the subsequent long pause made Hal sit up a little straighter and had him listening closely.

_'Barry's wife was murdered early yesterday morning… The funeral is tomorrow and I was really hoping you'd be back for it. He's not doing well and I know how close the two of you are.'_

Hal froze and the bottle almost fell from his hands.

_'You probably know by the time you get this that we want you to call us – or Barry at least. The funeral's going to be at Central Memorial Park at 2:00pm.'_

Iris was dead…?

Hal shot to his feet and bolted to the calendar he'd nailed to the wall, fumbling to flip to the right month with one hand and dig his cell phone out of his pocket with the other. What day was it?! He stuck his finger on the square marked 15th, awkwardly holding the previous months up with his elbow as he looked up the date on his phone.

Today was the 27th…

Hal gaped in open-mouthed horror at the numbers, feeling his stomach drop into his knees. This had all happened _two weeks_ ago. He dropped the calendar and clamped his hand over his mouth. The answering machine beeped again. "March 15th, 8:27am."

_'Hal…'_ a quiet, dead voice issued from the speakers.

Hal turned around slowly to look at the phone in dread. That was Barry's voice – no doubt – but it was so dull and listless. He waited silently through the pause, still able to hear Barry's broken breathing.

_'I…Hal, I can't do this. I have to bury her, but… You have to be here-I really need you here right now. _Please._ I don't know how to do this,' _Barry stumbled through the words like he'd never spoken before.

Hal didn't stay to hear the rest of the shaky, whispered message. He let the machine run and sprinted for the front door, dropping to his hands and knees to find the keys. Where the fuck had he put them?! He groped under the table and caught the key ring on his index finger, grabbing them and jumping back to his feet. He was outside and locking the apartment behind him in record time, activating his ring without so much as a single glance to see if anyone was watching.

He reached into the pocket dimension inside his ring and produced his Justice League . Hal jammed it into his ear and took off east towards the Midwest as fast as he cold. He hated wearing the bulky earpiece – they really needed to upgrade it. It was _not_ subtle. But now he regretted leaving it off. The range probably wouldn't have extended all the way to Ramnos, but it might've picked up signals on his return trip.

Barry was always complaining about how irresponsible he was and Hal wished he'd listened. He felt like a failure and an awful friend. He _wasn't there_ when Barry needed him the most. They'd been friends long before the League was formed and Barry deserved better from him. All he'd had to do was deal with an annoying earpiece.

"Green Lantern to Mt. Justice. Anyone there?" Hal held down the microphone button as he soared high over California. The border to Nevada was approaching fast. He tried to mentally figure up how long it would take to get to Central City and had it pegged at just under three hours when Aquaman's voice came through the communicator.

_"We've been trying to-"_

"Reach me for weeks, I know!" Hal interrupted him impatiently. "I just got back and I listened to Superman's messages. Can you tell me where Flash is?"

_"Central City,"_ Arthur reported in a quiet, careful voice. _"He's been there since the funeral; he took a leave of absence from the League and I think from heroing altogether. The first Flash has been patrolling the gem cities for the last few weeks."_

That would be Jay Garrick. He and Barry were really close, ever since he got his powers. Sometimes Hal sort of wished he had the same kind of relationship with Alan Scott, but Alan was an insufferable, condescending jerk. So…no.

"Jeez…" Hal sighed in worry for his friend. Barry _never_ took breaks from patrol. He didn't know what kind of shape he was going to be in mentally when Hal got there. "Do you know what happened? Who killed her?"

_"It was Professor Zoom," _Arthur told him.

Hal almost stopped in mid-air. Eobard Thawne had showed up two years ago and had been gunning for Barry's throat ever since. If he'd killed Iris… Was it random or in retaliation? If it was the latter, then that meant Zoom knew who Barry was, "Is he still on the loose?"

_"No. Superman caught him early the next morning. Zoom is sitting in Belle Reve Penitentiary right now with two crushed legs and a freshly wiped mind," _Arthur's voice crackled over the earpiece.

"Isn't that a bit overkill for Superman and Martian Manhunter?" Hal frowned down at the Earth speeding by below him. That sounded more like something _he_ would do.

Arthur agreed with him, _"I don't think Zoom even knew his own name when the Martian was through with him, but it had to be done. He'd figured out Flash's identity somehow and he couldn't be put in with the rest of the incarcerated villains there with that knowledge."_

Hal's heart sank. So it _had_ been retaliation. Barry was going to be blaming himself for Iris' death, "Has anyone talked to him about it? What was he – did he seem…okay? Like, is he a danger to himself? Is anyone keeping an eye on how he's doing?"

_"I can't see him hurting himself, especially since he's got that kid now."_

Hal had forgotten about Barry's nephew, Wallace. No, they called him Wally, didn't they? He'd only met the kid a handful of times.

"_I think Flash is pouring every drop of himself into taking care of him. It's helping him keep his head above water, I think, but just barely."_

"Thanks, man," Hal pushed himself to fly faster. "Tell the others I'll be in Central for a few days, will ya?"

_"Good luck."_

He reached Central City just before 1:00am – his best time yet. The bustle was clearly dying down; west coast cities kept going all night by comparison. Hal flew towards Danville and landed carefully in a park around the corner from Barry's block. He stealthily dodged through a couple backyards before reaching the right street and sneaking up onto the front porch.

Hal checked over his shoulder and tucked his Green Lantern ring into a pocket before knocking on the front door hurriedly. Again, he glanced around at the quiet residential area, expecting lights to start turning on inside the neighboring homes. When no one answered, Hal knocked a little louder, rapping on the wood and trying to see into the dark house through the glass panes until he heard footsteps from within. He stepped back a little and took a deep breath, bending his knees a little impatiently.

A lamp flicked on behind the windows and Hal heard the sound of the lock turning. A second later, the door opened and Hal saw his best friend standing there looking…tired and defeated. It was in every line of his body and the way he took a minute to recognize Hal was there. His normally bright blue eyes were dull and heavily shadowed from lack of sleep, unfocused and detached from what was going on around him. His short blond hair stuck out messily like he hadn't even tried to do anything with it in days and the old Central City Cougars t-shirt and sweat pants hanging off him suggested that he'd lost a lot of weight since Hal had seen him last.

Barry's eyebrows turned downwards in confusion and his eyes flickered up and down Hal's figure, "Hal…?"

His voice sounded dead – like someone had ripped out his soul and expected to get away with it without anyone noticing. Hal's eyes widened in worried alarm and he stepped forward to hook an arm around Barry's shoulders, pulling him into an awkward sort of hug. Barry let go of the doorknob in surprise and stiffened up when Hal whispered 'I'm sorry' in a choked voice.

He pulled back, moving aside so Hal could come into the house and closing the door behind him, "What?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when it happened," Hal cleared his throat with a cough and found it very difficult to look his friend in the eyes. "When Iris…"

Barry's almost stoic expression shifted suddenly as he was caught off guard and Hal watched in dismay as it crumpled. _Shit_. What the hell kind of guy says the name of his friend's recently deceased wife this soon after she was murdered?!

"I'm sorry!" he bumbled frantically, holding out his arms like he could reach out and snatch the words back. Barry's slumped shoulders were the only remaining tells about how he was really doing after he finished recomposing his face into a tired mask seconds later.

"It's not your fault," Barry tried to give him a reassuring smile, but the result was sad and hollow. "Didn't take us long to figure out that you were off planet on a mission. How did it go?"

Hal cocked his head to the side and he stared at Barry with narrowed, uncomprehending eyes. He was asking how Hal's mission went? The question was so absurd given the current circumstances that he just floundered about for a response for a minute until Barry hung his head and sank down on the couch with a shaky sigh.

"I'm sorry…" Barry mumbled tonelessly, letting his fingers slide through his hair and knot at the roots. "I don't know how to….?"

He was so broken that Hal didn't have any idea where to start.

He rested a hand on the back of Barry's neck and knelt down to eye level, "Are you okay? You look _really_ bad."

Barry didn't look up. He shut his eyes and leaned against Hal's arm, shaking his head slowly, "I can't sleep. _At all_. Every time I try…I just see Ir-_her_ face and all of a sudden I've got all this energy and I can't get rid of it, so I run. I just circle the globe over and over to tire myself out, but it doesn't work. I don't know what else to do – I'm restless _all the time_. Nothing helps."

"Sounds like your powers are all messed up," Hal let go of Barry and sat back on the carpet in front of him.

He nodded, "They've never been this bad before. It's a little better when Wally's around, but I haven't been able to control them. Jay's had to take over as the Flash again until I get it figured out."

"Well, yeah…" Hal deadpanned like it was obvious. "You _did_ take off some time from work, didn't you?"

"I tried to go in, but Captain Frye kicked me out and forced me to take a month's leave," Barry said dejectedly. If it wasn't so sad, Hal would have laughed. Only Barry Allen would think he had to go in to work right after his wife died. He was so utterly lost right now.

"How's Wally?" Hal looked over his shoulder to the rest of the dark house where he assumed the young boy's room was.

Barry's depression seemed to weigh down even heavier on him, "He doesn't understand why she's gone and he's old enough to miss her. I don't know how to explain it to him right…"

"Is he awake? I can try if you want," Hal was offering before he even knew why. The last thing he wanted to do was explain death to a three year old.

Thankfully, Barry shook his head, "He's at the Garrick's in Keystone. They've been taking him about three times a week to help me out – and they insist that they just adore him – but I feel bad about it. Plus, it's actually kind of easier when he's here. He gives me something to focus on."

"But are you ignoring yourself in the process?" Hal chewed at the inside of his lip. Barry wasn't quick to anger at all, but he still felt the need to tread carefully with this subject.

"Probably," Barry admitted with another empty half smile.

Hal sighed internally. He was going to have to be here longer than a couple days in order to help Barry, "What are you going to do about Wally?"

Barry looked up at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Carefully, carefully.

"Uhh… Well, it was one thing when you and…um, when you had help, but you're so young to be raising a kid by yourself on top of being the Flash and working full time – and now you only have half the income you did before," Hal winced as he spoke gingerly – the words sounding worse and worse as he went on. "I just didn't know if – if you were still…uh-"

"If I was going to keep him or not?" Barry finished the sentence incredulously.

"Well…yeah."

"Of course I am," Barry looked deeply unsettled at the idea. "I can't give him up. Iris loved him so much and I have to take care of him for her. I- He was ours; he's family. He's my son."

He trailed off and looked down at his folded hands again, eyes beginning to water. Hal immediately regretted saying anything. His first concern had been for Barry's well-being, but he hadn't realized how important Wally was to him. He was the only thing Barry had left of Iris and it was obvious now how much he loved Wally.

It wasn't Barry and Iris anymore, or even just Barry by himself. It was Barry and Wally. And if Wally was important to Barry, then he was important to Hal too.

"Alright," Hal didn't argue with him. "I think it's great. How can I help?"

"What?" Barry looked taken off guard.

"Well, Jay can't help you every day of the week, can he?" Hal spoke matter-of-factly. "I'll help out the other days that he can't."

Barry's eyes narrowed and he still looked like he didn't understand.

"Y'know… babysitting…uh, picking him up from school or daycare? Does he go to school yet? Nevermind. Just…kinda whatever you need," Hal explained awkwardly. Jeez, he was complete crap at this…

To his relief, Barry cracked a smile and actually laughed, "I'm supposed to let you babysit a child? Hal, you _are_ a child."

"Shut up," Hal muttered, rolling his eyes. "You'll need me to one day and then you'll be eating those words. I can be responsible when I want."

"I still can't believe you want to watch Wally," Barry just shook his head slowly.

"Yeah, well, I want to help _you_," he shrugged like it was nothing. "I've tackled more difficult things than childcare for you before."

"No," Barry said with a quiet laugh like he had some great big secret that Hal wasn't privy to. "No you haven't… You sure you wanna do this? Wally's actually _really_ adorable; you might get attached to him if you're not careful."

Hal dismissed the playful warning with a scoff, "I think I can handle it."

They both fell into a comfortable silence then with Hal leaning back on his hands and watching Barry's temporary good mood quickly dissolve as soon as he had time to think about everything that had happened. Damnit. He was slipping back into depression really fast. Hal needed to do something to keep Barry's mind off of Iris.

What did _he_ do when he was depressed about something?

Hal looked up suddenly and slapped the carpet with a smile as an idea came to him, "Alright, get up. No more moping; we're going out."

Barry didn't look excited. He cocked an eyebrow at Hal and made a face, "Go out? It's 1:00 in the morning."

"That's not that late – and you said yourself that you can't sleep anyway, so why not?" Hal was already on his feet and pulling a reluctant Barry up as well.

"I'd rather just go get Wally," Barry put up minor resistance to Hal's manhandling.

"It's 1:00 in the morning," Hal mimicked his words with a teasing smile. "He's not going to be awake. Let's just go out, get your mind off everything, and we can go get Wally tomorrow."

"We?" Barry frowned.

"Yeah," Hal flashed him an impish grin. "I'm staying with you for a few days. You have no choice in the matter. It's gonna happen. Now, seriously, put on some shoes and let's go."

For once, Barry moved agonizingly slowly as he searched the house for a pair of sneakers. Hal just pulled up a list of all the bars in Central City that he'd ever been to while he waited. Rick's was walking distance – he didn't plan on being able to drive by the end of the night, and drunk _flying_ was even worse. What day was it? Wednesday. _Perfect._ It was 'Drink and Drown' night at Rick's – all you can drink for $20. He double checked his wallet and smiled when he saw the fat line of bills in it. Thankfully, he'd been on good terms with Carol right before they broke up and the pay raise she'd given him couldn't be taken away. Never date your boss…

After Barry dug up a pair of shoes and they were outside heading to Rick's, he started complaining about going to a bar and repeatedly saying that he never drank. Hal just replied with a curt 'That's why we're going' and dragged him into town.

Rick's was still pretty busy when they got there, so Hal chose a secluded corner away from the crowds and sat Barry down while he went up to the bar. He opened his mouth to order and then shut it suddenly. Hmm… How would alcohol react with Barry's metabolism? He'd never actually _tried_ to get the speedster drunk before. How much would it take?

"Uh…four of whatever's on tap," Hal told the bartender after some quick, mental math. He showed the green stamp on the back of his wrist to prove he'd paid at the door and wrangled the sloshing glasses in both hands. "I'll probably be back a lot."

The bar was moderately full for the middle of the week, which was just fine with him. The more people there were, the less anyone would notice two superheroes amongst them trying to get absolutely plastered. Hal made his way back to the booth and set three of the glasses in front of Barry.

The speedster looked at the beer distastefully and Hal just laughed, "Don't think, just drink."

"Your philosophy on life?" Barry asked dryly before picking up a glass and taking a sip.

Jeez, he was going to have to drink faster than that. Hal downed most of his own glass and flashed Barry a brilliant smile, "It's one of my ten commandments."

Barry just shook his head at him fondly and went quiet, his eyebrows pulling together into a frown. Something had reminded him of Iris…

"Come on, man." Hal sighed. "Don't make me the only one drinking. I want you to finish all three of those before I finish mine, okay? It'll be a race."

Barry responded by closing his eyes and ignoring him, "Why are we here, Hal?"

Hal set down his glass and fixed his friend with a sympathetic stare, "Because you _need_ this, buddy. You're allowed to have fun, you know, and take your mind off of everything for a night."

"Right…" Barry mumbled unconvincingly, staring down at his beer for a long moment, but he drained it all at once and pushed the empty glass at Hal. "You'll make sure we don't do anything stupid?"

Don't be a bad liar. Don't be a bad liar.

"Mmhmm," Hal nodded with his very best 'innocent' smile.

It took exactly ten seconds of dead silence to crack Barry's poker face. Then he started laughing and shaking his head, "Whatever… Have at it."

He held out the second glass of beer and Hal clinked his own against it, "Challenge accepted."

And a challenge it was…

Barry had polished off all three beers with no trouble at all as well as two more that Hal had brought after those. He didn't even get a slurred sentence out of it. Hal was frustrated and a little disappointed at the lack of effect, so he changed tactics and started ordering the fruitiest, girliest drinks he could think of.

He was just a _little_ bitter.

To his credit, Barry drank the bright pink strawberry daiquiri without complaint. He only smiled before downing the Appletini, and just raised an eyebrow at the Sex on the Beach and the Screwdriver. He was a good sport about it, but the cocktails were doing nothing. Hal ordered about twelve Jager Bombs and got Barry to throw back ten of them one after another – as fast as he could.

"How do you feel?" Hal asked curiously, watching his friend frown at the table.

Barry 'hmm'd' and examined his hands closely, "I think it's _starting_ to work…"

"_Starting_ to-?" Hal began incredulously. He shoved back from the table and all the empty glasses, answering Barry's quizzical expression with a signal to wait a second. He flashed his stamp again and leaned in close to the bartender, "Do you have anything 150 proof?"

The bartender jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the displayed bottles behind him, "Vodka and whiskey."

Hal crinkled his nose at the latter, "Better be vodka – I've got an inexperienced drinker. Can I get 2 bottles?"

He raised an eyebrow at Hal.

"Uh…there are a lot of us…" Hal said lamely.

The bartender bent down under the bar and didn't release his stare even as he handed over the clear bottles. Hal gave him a nervous half smile and quickly returned to the table. He cracked open one of the bottles and set it in front of Barry, "I don't think 'drink and drown' night was designed for speedsters. You may wanna down these fast before we get kicked out."

"What did you do?" Barry asked shrewdly, lifting the bottle to his lips.

"Nothing," Hal bristled defensively, keeping an eye on the staff. It looked like someone was onto them. "Just hurry up. I think we've reached the bar's limit."

"I thought 'drink and drown' was unlimited," Barry made a face as he polished off the first bottle, actually swaying in his seat now and blinking rapidly.

"Yeah, well, most people would have drowned by now," Hal hissed, sliding the second bottle to him without looking. He was busy keeping an eye on the bar. A few of the staff had grabbed two big, burly security guys and were pointing at the two of them. The owner appeared a minute later and made his way over to their table.

"How 'bout you boys call it a night," the owner grabbed his belt and 'ominously' hiked up the waistline of his pants like the movement was supposed to be intimidating.

Hal sighed, "Something wrong, officers?"

He never _could_ resist being a smartass.

It looked like the owner didn't appreciate his humor, "Yeah – ever hear of alcohol poisoning? Cause that's where you're headed tonight."

"We're really fine," Hal reasoned. He only had a moderate buzz, and Barry was about the same. Of course, he couldn't tell the owner that the reason they were okay was because one of them was a metahuman. "I promise you."

"_He_ doesn't _look_ fine," one of the security guys pointed over Hal's shoulder.

He turned around in confusion and found Barry slumped face down over the table with the last half empty bottle still clutched in one hand and his mouth stretched wide in a goofy grin. Hal just groaned. Barry _would_ pick _right now_ to finally get drunk.

"Uhm…"

"You need to get him to a hospital," the owner said grimly, making it implicitly clear that there would be no arguing.

"Right…" Hal nodded, getting up and going over to Barry. "I'll take him there now."

He placed a hand on Barry's back and shook him a little, "Come on, man. Let's head out now."

"We getting kicked out?" Barry let Hal drag him to his feet before deciding to help out and actually stand on his own.

Two brisk nods from the security were all the proof Hal needed, "Yup."

Barry suddenly grabbed Hal's shoulder and almost knocked heads with him as he looked up suddenly, "Let's fight them!"

"What…?" Hal cocked an eyebrow at Barry. He couldn't believe he'd just said that.

The huge smile on Barry's face only got bigger, "Come on, I've fought Captain Cold before single-handedly. We can take 'em."

Before Hal had time to panic, one of the bouncers snorted with laughter and elbowed his buddy with a roll of his eyes, "_Sure_ you have."

"We can take them," Barry tugged on Hal's collar and whispered very loudly.

"We probably could," Hal muttered to Barry before prying his fingers off and tossing a winning smile at the security. "But that would be bad. We're gonna go find you a doctor, okay?"

"Okay," Barry agreed easily, a content smile on his face. His legs didn't seem very steady, so Hal took on most of his weight and dragged him out of the bar. He tried to avoid looking anyone in the eye as they left. Geez, was this what it was like for his friends when they had to pick _him _up drunk?

Hal tripped on a raised up seam of sidewalk when they got outside, sending Barry into hysterical laughter, "Wow…this is a super interesting side of you, Bear."

Barry didn't really seem like he understood what Hal had said. He was just stumbling along beside him with his eyes mostly closed and the bottle gradually slipping from his fingers. Alright. Mission accomplished. Barry's mind was off Iris, and fortunately he was an extremely happy drunk.

"You should let your eyes show," he said suddenly.

Hal looked down at him in confusion, "What?"

"Your Green Lantern mask," Barry made a pulling motion at his forehead to demonstrate. "You should let people see your eyes like I do."

"I don't think I have a choice; the ring just automatically makes a mask," Hal steered them slowly along the correct route back to Barry's house. The inebriated speedster kept trying to wander off and Hal had to keep tugging him back.

"You should try. You've got nice eyes," Barry rambled over him. "Not as nice as mine, of course – mine are blue. Yours are sorta ugly."

"What?!" Hal laughed. "You _just_ said they were nice like two seconds ago."

"Things change," Barry smiled like he was pleased with himself.

"Yeah, whatever. Open-eye masks are an awful choice anyways," Hal wrestled Barry out of the deserted street again. "They're not good secret identity protectors."

"Pfft," Barry cracked up again. "Says the man who signed a check as 'Green Lantern' once."

That shut Hal up. He'd done that _way_ more than just once.

"Why are we walking?" Barry complained suddenly, apparently just now noticing how long it had taken them to go just a few blocks. "I don't wanna walk anymore."

He stopped moving altogether and Hal almost fell over as the speedster's sneakers started scraping across the concrete. He readjusted his hold on Barry's torso and tried not to get annoyed, "Hey, stop that. I'm gonna drop you. I'm not kidding. _Barry_."

He took a few more steps before trying to twist free of Hal's hold, "I want to run."

"No running – and we're walking because flying while even a little tipsy is a bad idea," Hal dismissed him quickly. Barry tried to shrug him off again, nearly fell over, and got into a slap fight when Hal pulled him upright. "I told you I'd make good decisions tonight. Remember?"

"I'm gonna go dead weight on you," Barry threatened. "I'll be a dead body – I know dead bodies. I examine them every day. They're heavy."

"Stop being morbid, you dork," Hal shook his head.

"I do what I want," Barry went completely limp, dropping through Hal's grip into a runner's crouch. "I can super speed us home."

Hal scrambled to block him from taking off. He really didn't want to chase down a drunk speedster, "No, no! Please don't – that's a terrible idea."

"You don't think I can do it?" Barry's grin got wider.

"No, I don't," he physically held Barry still, using his best 'serious voice'. "It's not a challenge; do _not_ try to use-"

Barry shot off like a bullet and Hal made a grab for him but missed. He took about five lightning fast steps and then his speed cut out, sending him crashing onto his face.

Hal couldn't help it. He just stared at him and burst out laughing as Barry just sort of flopped over onto his back and groaned pitifully. Oh, he really hoped his ring was able to record everything that had happened in the last few hours.

He used an energy construct to pick Barry back up and dismissed it quickly, "I told you not to try it."

"Why isn't my speed working?" Barry just looked down at his hands in confusion.

"Three guesses," Hal said sarcastically, slinging one of Barry's arms around his shoulders. "I'll give you a hint: it's the alcohol."

"You may be right…"

Fifteen minutes later, Hal was dragging Barry's unconscious body through the front door while awkwardly fumbling with the keys. He stood in the middle of the pitch black living room and paused, trying to decide where to take his friend. The bedroom or the couch? Barry said he hadn't been able to sleep lately. What if that was because of the empty bed? Iris not sleeping there beside him might be the reason.

Better pick the couch just o be safe.

Hal hefted Barry onto one end of the couch and carefully arranged his legs so that his spine didn't twist. Barry made a delirious sort of giggle and it was so out of character that Hal had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing and waking him up. He struggled with the laces of Barry's shoes and pulled them off, feeling like he was tucking in a toddler.

He was never getting Barry drunk ever again. It was just _weird_.

Hal looked around in the dark, trying to let his eyes adjust before he went stumbling around and stubbing his toes on furniture. He'd crashed here enough times to know where Iris kept the spare blankets. Both arms were piled high with throw blankets a minute later and he was just passing the kitchen on his way back to the living room when something caught his eye. It was a grocery list stuck to the fridge with a magnet.

It was in Iris' handwriting.

Hal slowed to a halt and he frowned at the tiny paper intently. His eyes darted across the rest of the kitchen, taking in the purse lying on the counter against the wall, the GBS mug from the news station where Iris worked sitting beside the coffee pot, and the pair of grey heels placed innocently by the back door. Realization dawned on Hal as he spotted more and more things that were all evidence that Iris had lived here.

He looked up at Barry's sprawled out silhouette with sympathy. It wasn't the empty bedroom that was bothering Barry – it was the whole damn house. He wasn't going to get any closure while he was living here.

Hal padded back to the couch and carefully draped one of the blankets over his friend. He wadded up another for himself to use as a pillow and stretched out on the floor beside the couch. In the morning, he was going to try his best to convince Barry that he needed to find a new place. For now though, it looked like Barry would actually be able to get some sleep tonight. Hal felt a little better knowing that he's at least been able to do _something_ useful.

He could definitely help Barry get over this. They just had to take it one step at a time. Hopefully, Hal wouldn't screw it up.

A small smile worked its way onto his face. Hal brought his hand up to his mouth and whispered, "Ring, did you record any of that tonight?"

_"Confirmed,"_ it said back in a tinny, robotic voice.

"Excellent…" Hal let his head fall back and he closed his eyes. Months later, when things were funny again, he would have blackmail.


	3. Chapter 3

Barry got to his feet, swinging the power drill idly back and forth as he surveyed his handiwork. One firm shake of the headboard confirmed that the twin bed he'd just put together was sound, "Wally, come here real quick."

Across the small bedroom, Wally looked up from the toy chest where he was finishing unpacking the last box of action figures. Barry beckoned him over with a smile and the tiny redhead hopped up and bounced over happily, "Yeah?"

"We're almost done, buddy," Barry ruffled his hair fondly and nodded towards the bed frame sitting in the middle of the floor. "You just have to pick where you want your bed to go."

Wally looked down at the frame thoughtfully and then all around the room for a long minute. He padded over to the window and rose up onto his tippy toes, "Can we put it here?"

"We sure can," Barry set down the drill and started dragging the bed frame across the carpet. "Watch out for a second, kiddo."

Wally backed away to give him room to put the bed against the wall, "Is that a good spot?"

Once he had it in place, Barry started unwrapping the new mattress and box spring he'd picked up yesterday, "I think it's the best spot in the whole room."

Wally beamed and went back to his toys. He climbed into an empty cardboard box and folded the flaps closed on himself, "I like this new house, Uncle Bawwy."

"What's your favorite part of it?" Barry glanced back at the box. It was rocking side to side slightly.

It had taken almost two months, and a lot of persuasive speeches from Hal, but the house in Danville had finally sold. Barry had been extremely reluctant to let it go. It had felt like he was getting rid of every last shred of Iris that was left. That had been their first place together – Barry had let Iris pick it out right after they'd gotten married.

Hal was right, though. Barry wouldn't have done well if he'd stayed in that house.

Englewood was nicer than Danville, anyways – and you could see Granite Peak National Park from the backyard. Barry could take Wally out camping and hiking whenever they wanted. There was plenty of room for Wally to run around and play.

It was better.

It _was._

"The stairs," Wally's voice was a little muffled from inside the box.

"Why the stairs?" Their last house had only been one floor whereas the new one had two stories.

"Cause – because Howl said I could um put some blankies on the stairs and make it a ramp and then sled down it!" Wally's head popped out of the box and his eyes were big and round in excitement.

Barry plopped the mattress down and shoved it into alignment with his knees. Wally was still having trouble pronouncing some things – like his and Hal's names. He was 'Bawwy' and Hal was 'Howl'. Neither of them minded. It was adorable. "Uhhh…when did he give you that idea?"

"This morning," Wally happily reported matter of factly. The box overturned and he toppled out giggling.

Right. _That_ wasn't happening. Barry sat down on the bed and tested its sturdiness again, "Well, when Hal gets back up here, he can explain to you why you're not allowed to do that."

"Aww! Why?" Wally whined, devastated.

"Because I don't want to have to take you to the hospital for a broken arm," Barry hooked one leg over the other and leaned back on his hands. Wally looked like he was gearing up for an argument when they both heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Soooo… I dunno if you're gonna be able to find anything, but the kitchen is all set up," Hal appeared in the doorway and leaned against the frame, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to gesture downstairs. He looked all around the room and whistled appreciatively. "Wow, Wally, this is a cool room."

Wally rocked back and forth happily and patted the carpet with pride like he'd personally assembled this part of the house himself.

Barry just cocked an eyebrow at Hal and kept his expression neutral, "Sledding down the stairs, huh?"

The warning tone of his voice froze Hal in place and he looked up with a nervous sort of poker face, "…What?"

Like a toddler that was just caught doing something bad.

Hal laughed nervously and shuffled his feet, directing his gaze at Wally, "Oh, right. Haha. No. See, I meant 'can' as in you have the physical ability to, not that you have permission."

Wally wasn't fooled. He frowned at Hal openly, "That's dumb! That's not what you said _before_."

"It _is_ what I said before," Hal tried to cover his screw up with his very best adult voice. "And you're obviously not gonna get permission, because letting a small child play on the stairs is irresponsible…and stupid…which your uncle is not. He's a very smart man and a good parent. Cause he cares about ya – and doesn't want you to die on the stairs…"

Both Wally and Barry were just staring at him with the same unimpressed glower. Hal pursed his lips together and averted his eyes.

"Nice save, Hal," Barry smiled at him passive aggressively. "Do you think you have any more great ideas for him? Playing in the street, perhaps? Or running with scissors?"

"Nope..." Hal shook his head innocently and made a face like he was thinking about it. "No ideas – nothing like that. Just..._a really great present!_"

He reached out of sight of the doorframe and produced a big, horrifically wrapped present with a huge smile on his face.

"Oh God…" Barry mumbled anxiously.

Wally completely lost it and sprinted over to Hal excitedly while Barry frowned at the gift suspiciously. What was it…?

"Gimme, gimme!" Wally reached for the present, jumping up and down and grabbing with his tiny little fists. "What is it?! What is it?!"

Hal laughed and kept lifting it just out of reach, "A welcome home present. You need something super cool for this super cool new room, don't you think?"

Barry watched in alarm, all the while wondering how the hell Hal had snuck the gift into the house without him noticing. He hoped it was a pillow or something else soft and child-friendly. Hal's gifts had a tendency to be…hazardous…

Wally snatched it with one really big jump and immediately started tearing at the horribly wrapped paper, getting tape stuck in his hair and all over his clothes in the process.

"Did you wrap that with your feet?" Barry asked worriedly.

"Feet and duct tape," Hal strolled over to stand beside him with his hands on his hips like a champion.

Barry's dread only increased, "What did you get him?"

He flashed a smug grin and shrugged innocently.

Wally removed the last bit of crudely taped together paper and tossed it into the air. Barry sat upright to try and see past Wally. He didn't get a good look at what it was until his nephew cocked his head in confusion and held up a bright green cube of something tightly sealed in clear plastic.

Wally clearly didn't know what it was, and neither did Barry until Hal started making this weird, excited sort of coughing sound. Then, the sunlight caught the plastic casing and Barry could see a big, white lantern printed on green fabric. His mouth fell open in scandalized shock and he blinked rapidly to make sure he was seeing things right.

"It's a Green Lantern bedspread!" Hal told them both happily, looking from Wally to Barry and back again, clearly expecting a positive reaction.

Barry was still mentally fumbling for words when Wally set the package down and frowned at Hal, "What's a Gween Lantern?"

Hal's gleeful expression shattered and he whipped his head around to stare at Barry in open disbelief, "_What's a Gree-_?! You haven't told him who I-who Green Lantern is?!"

"You bought him a Green Lantern bed set?!" Barry shot back, equally incensed.

"What's wrong with Green Lantern?" Hal narrowed his eyes distrustfully, folding his arms over his chest.

Barry shoved a palm into Hal's face and tried not to smack him upside his chronically injured head, "Wally likes the Flash."

"What - Wally can't like both of them?" Hal shrugged angrily.

"No!" Barry held out a finger like he was scolding a puppy. He had no idea why he was getting so petty over this, but he refused to lose to Hal. He'd been grooming Wally to be a Flash fan for over a _year_! "Not to the same degree."

"The degree of a _bedspread_...? I don't see what the problem is. Now, what's _actually_ upsetting is why you haven't told this child who I-Green Lantern is," Hal frantically raised his voice to cover the slip up. Barry really had no idea how he'd kept his identity a secret for so long. At this rate, Wally was going to know that he was in the same room as two superheroes by nine o clock.

"Wally already has a _Flash_ bedspread. He doesn't need that gaudy one," Barry raised an eyebrow at Hal in warning.

Out of the corner of his eye, Barry saw Wally unzip the plastic casing and pull out the comforter to inspect it more closely.

"His Flash bedspread doesn't fit the new bed you got him," Hal threw up his arms in frustration. "You told me that yourself. He needed a new one, so I got him one. End of story."

"A story of betrayal!" Barry countered. "You have the audacity to bring that horrible thing into _my_ house?!"

"Okay, one: it's only been your house for three days," Hal held up a hand, beginning to take on crazy eyes. He nodded at Wally purposefully. "Two: how dare you talk to me about betrayal when I can clearly see the blank look in his eyes as he's holding that comforter? And three: your hurtful words are making me start to think that _you_ don't like Green Lantern! What up with _that_?!"

"I still don't know what a Gween Lantern is..." Wally piped up from where he was sitting on the floor. He had both legs stretched out in front of him and the blanket wadded up in a mound that was bigger than he was.

"Nothing important," Barry assured him quickly at the same time that Hal clamped a hand over his mouth and shoved him face down into the bare mattress. He gasped in surprise as Hal jammed a knee into his spine and held his head down with both forearms.

"Green Lantern is only the coolest, most handsome, awesomest intergalactic space cop in the entire universe," Hal went on with a smile, struggling to keep Barry down as he fought back. Wally watched them both with wide eyes. "He fights bad guys, saves the day, _and_ makes all the other superheroes look like chumps. He's also not too bad with the ladies."

Wally nodded silently like he was taking all the information in and committing it to memory. Hal paused and ignored Barry biting his hand, eagerly waiting for Wally's opinion.

"I've never heard of him..."

Hal looked utterly heartbroken and Barry couldn't help but laugh. He took the opportunity to throw him off and Hal toppled off the bed with a loud thud. Barry straightened his shirt and tossed a proud smile down to Wally.

"Is he like Supaman and Batman?" Wally asked innocently.

"He knows who Superman and Batman are, but not Green Lantern?" Hal growled at Barry, gritting his teeth dangerously.

"Uh huh," Wally nodded happily and started proudly counting off all the heroes he knew with his fingers. "And Wonner Woman, and Akkaman, and Marsha Manter, aaand Long Man."

Hal shut up and looked at Barry for an explanation. Barry just shrugged with an apologetic grimace, deciding that he'd suffered enough, and whispered, "You're not in the news as much... Most of your fights happen off planet."

"Don't look at me," Hal, it seemed, did not accept the excuse. He stalked back over to the doorway and Barry thought he was going to storm out for a minute until he saw his friend stop and turn back around with his hand poised over the light switch. "This'll even the playing field. Close those blinds."

Barry obediently reached back and shut the curtains. Wally watched Hal curiously – now having the bedspread mostly rumpled up around him.

"I'd like to see that ratty old Flash comforter compete with _this_," Hal flicked off the lights and puffed out his chest importantly. The whole room dimmed considerably even with the sunset peeking through the shut blinds and Barry could see Wally surrounded by a strange green light. "It glows in the dark."

It did.

Barry smiled at the glowing, lime green lanterns all over the blanket as Wally lost his mind with pure happiness. The little toddler jumped up and sprinted right at Hal with the comforter still clutched in his hands. He wrapped both arms around Hal's legs, nearly knocking him over, and started absolutely gushing over the present.

"Thank you, Howl!" Wally giggled excitedly, letting Hal give him a brief, startled hug before tearing across the room to throw the blanket onto the bed. "It's so cool!"

Barry got off the bed to let Wally spread out the sheets messily and stared down at them disapprovingly. Hal came up behind him and dropped his chin onto Barry's shoulder, chuckling smugly.

"I'm gonna be his favorite~" Hal whispered tauntingly in a sing-song voice.

Oh _hell_ no!

Barry slammed an elbow right into Hal's gut and plastered a giant smile onto his face before going to help Wally tuck the corners of the sheets under the mattress. Behind him, he heard Hal gasp in surprise and hit the floor again.

It was eventually decided that the Green Lantern bed set would stay. Barry had to grudgingly admit that the Flash blanket would _not_ fit, and yes, it was a nice gesture. Wally spent the rest of the unpacking wrapped up in the comforter, jumping up and down on his bed and asking questions about Green Lantern.

"Can Gween Lantern make a rocket ship with his ring?" Wally asked, thrusting out a fist and pretending to fight imaginary aliens with a rolled up band of tape that Hal had fashioned into a passable ring.

"I've seen him make a whole _fleet_ of rocket ships," Hal laughed, not annoyed in the least by all the questions. His ego was probably getting off on it.

"What's a fleet?" Wally flopped down on the bed and cocked his head to the side curiously.

Hal paused in breaking down cardboard boxes and cleaning up packing paper and trash. He thought about it for a second, "It's like…a lot of rocket ships."

"Oh," Wally said, mollified for the moment.

Barry pulled the drawstrings on a garbage bag and hefted it over his shoulder, "Alright. I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry. As per our agreement, Hal, I will now feed you as payment for helping us move."

"I would have done it for free, buddy," Hal tossed him a wink before leaning towards Wally conspiratorially and shaking his head, mouthing 'no I wouldn't'.

Wally giggled and covered his mouth with both hands. He ducked under the comforter and started crawling around like a bug.

"What do you want?" Barry shook his head fondly. "It's man slave's choice tonight."

Hal discreetly gave him the finger and lifted up the Green Lantern blanket to peek in on Wally, "What do you think, carrot top? You want anything special for dinner?"

"Pizza!" Wally threw the blanket off and used Hal's knee to push himself upright. He grinned up at Barry as if asking for permission and Hal did the same.

"Pizza it is," Barry chuckled. He grabbed two more bags of trash and headed for the stairs. "You two figure out what you want on it."

"Pineapples!" he heard Wally call from the bedroom.

"Negative, Ghostrider," Hal's voice jumped in immediately, getting fainter as Barry reached the first floor. "Pineapples have no place on a pizza. Barry, what have you been teaching this kid?!"

He could hear them hashing out the rest of the toppings and Wally's high-pitched laughter whenever Hal vehemently shot down one of his suggestions. Barry finagled the house phone between his shoulder and jaw and dialed the nearest pizza parlor while he walked the trash out to the street.

"Hi, yeah, I need to order two large pizzas with ham, pepperoni, onions, and extra pineapples on both, please," Barry listed off the weird combo. Pineapples were going to be the very mildest form of the revenge he planned to exact on his best friend. He gave the man over the phone his address and hung up before going back inside.

It was starting to get dark now, so Barry flipped on a few lights in the kitchen and living room. Being in this new house wasn't the same, but he didn't feel the crushing absence of his wife quite so painfully here. He heard Wally's voice chattering away in the room above him and decided to follow it.

"And that's why Green Lantern is the best superhero out there, see?" Hal's voice reasoned from around the corner. Barry mentally gave him the stink eye. He knew exactly what Hal was trying to do: shunt Flash out of Wally's favorite superhero category. Like Barry was ever going to let that happen. If it was a war Hal wanted, then it could most definitely be arranged.

Wally didn't say anything in response to that, and Barry hung back in the stairwell just beside the doorway to listen.

"What's wrong, little man? You okay?" Hal's boasting tone turned concerned. Barry almost sprinted into the room to see what the problem was.

"Gween Lantern is cool, but I really like Flash, but no one has seen him in a long long time," Wally's tiny little voice sounded sad. "No one knows where he is…"

"Oh…" Hal said solemnly. "He's – something really bad happened to him and he's…just taking a break."

"How do you know?" Wally asked.

"Your uncle is a friend of his," Hal fumbled for an explanation. He clearly wasn't used to a child asking 'how' and 'why' every other sentence.

"What happened to him?"

"Just…something bad. It's a secret," Hal sounded like he was very carefully choosing his words. "The Flash is really sad right now and it'll just take some time for him to get better."

"Do you think he's ever coming back?" Wally sounded hopeful.

Barry leaned back against the wall and quietly sank to the floor. He curled his arms around his knees and hunched over in the dark hallway. He hadn't been able to even _look_ at his Flash costume since his wife died. Actually putting it on and going up against the Rogues just felt impossible. His speed was still on the fritz too, cutting out entirely sometimes with no warning. He wasn't ready to return to active duty yet, and no one was pushing him to. Jay Garrick, Clark, and Hal were all picking up shifts protecting Central City so that he didn't feel pressured.

"Definitely," Hal assured him with immediate, absolute confidence. "Green Lantern is cool and all, but _Flash_ is the toughest hero out there. He can bounce back from anything."

Barry looked up in surprise at Hal's words.

"Really?"

"Trust me," Hal sounded more light-hearted now. "Give it a little longer and he'll be kickin butt and takin names better than ever. You believe me, don't you?"

"Yeah!" Wally laughed, and the sound of his cute little voice made Barry smile. He stretched one leg out in front of him and rested his head back against the wall.

Looked like Wally and Hal hadn't given up on him yet. He took Hal's confidence as his own and got to his feet, walking into the room with a smile, "Pizza's on the way. You two wanna pick out a movie to watch?"

"I wanna watch an action movie!" Wally jumped off Hal's lap and streaked out of the room, trampling down the stairs like a herd of elephants.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," Hal got up and followed Wally out of the room, a deadly serious look on his face. "I have no idea if I hooked up the TV and DVD player right."

He hadn't.

Fifteen minutes later, Barry finally managed to fix whatever Hal had broken while he and Wally watched from the couch, 'oohing' and clapping whenever he got something to work. By the time everything was all set up, the pizza was there and Wally was dashing around setting out plates for everyone.

Hal lifted the top on one of the boxes and sent Barry a dirty look like all his suspicions had just been confirmed when he saw all the pineapples, "You bastard…"

"Watch your language, pumpkin," Barry said playfully and pinched Hal's face on his way to the living room. "Can't have you talking like a pilot in front of Wally."

Hal made a face and rubbed his cheek in defeat, "The phrase is 'talk like a sailor'."

"Not with you it isn't," Barry said absently before settling in on one side of the couch and folding his legs under himself. Wally cannonballed onto the middle cushion with a pizza slice the size of his face and scooted all the way back. His ankles barely hung off the edge. Barry bumped him with his elbow and Wally looked up with a wide smile. He crawled over and snuggled into Barry's side.

Hal plopped down on Wally's other side and leaned on the armrest, taking up the remote and pointing it at the TV to play the movie, "Note to you, Bear: I can always be bribed with free food."

"Oh, I already know," Barry said through a mouthful of pizza. "You're not exactly complex."

The beginning movie credits started up with the opening music and Wally suddenly gasped, "Wait! I have to go get Pavlov!"

He handed his pizza to Barry and tore across the living room, disappearing up the stairs. Barry just balanced the plate on his knee and took another bite of pizza, listening to the toddler's footsteps through the ceiling. He was unspeakably grateful for his superspeed, because he had no idea how he would keep up with Wally's energy without it.

Hal had paused the movie and was staring after where Wally vanished with a baffled look on his face, "Pavlov?"

Barry just shrugged like it was normal, "Pavlov is his dog. It's a stuffed animal. He takes it everywhere."

"…What's wrong with that child?" Hal said after a moment and cocked his head to the side.

Barry bristled and hurled a balled up napkin at his head.

"Ah! What?!" Hal hunched his shoulders and ducked out of the way.

"It's adorable!" Barry said firmly.

"_Weird_ is what it is," he shook his head. "Three year olds should name their stuffed animals after colors or their favorite foods, not Russian physiologists."

"He's a smart kid," Barry defended Wally stubbornly. "And he likes science."

"Can he even spell 'science'?" Hal rolled his eyes like he thought Barry was being ridiculous.

Barry kicked Hal in the ribcage and narrowed his eyes, "Can _you_ spell 'science', _Hal_itosis?"

Wally came jumping down the stairs right as Hal was shrieking, "_I told you not to call me that!_"

Barry made room for Wally to sit beside him and threw an arm around the redhead. Hal eyed the floppy, stuffed dog clutched in Wally's arms with a look that clearly said he thought it was ridiculous, but instead of making fun of the name, he started to smile a little. Barry just shook his head and decided not to comment on the fact that it was already happening: Wally's cuteness was getting to Hal.

Wally spent most of the movie with his eyes glued to the screen in rapt attention. He shifted around constantly and alternated between curling up on Barry's lap and stretching out with his feet resting on Hal's knee. Hal entertained himself during the movie by picking pineapple chunks off his pizza slices and sneaking them onto Wally's plate when he wasn't looking. Barry just watched the both of them out of the corner of his eye, finding Hal and Wally far more interesting than the action movie. He had quite enough of that in his life already, and he was just grateful that he wasn't alone.

Only an hour into the show, Wally was out like a light. He was sprawled out over both Hal and Barry with his thumb in his mouth and Pavlov stuffed under one arm. Hal had turned down the volume a long time ago so that the gunfire and explosions didn't wake him, and he and Barry had been talking. Hal told him about how the Justice League was doing without him. Apparently, they weren't getting along nearly as well as they did when Barry was there, but things were still going decently. Clark seemed to be the only one that Batman even spoke to outside of League meetings, J'onn was venturing out into human society more and more, and Arthur had met some new Atlantean – but not really Atlantean – woman named Mera who was partnering up with him and trying to convince him to take the throne of Atlantis. Diana was being stalked by some immortal sorceress named Circe for unclear reasons, and the League as a whole was looking into recruiting new members.

"Of course, we wouldn't do anything without your input," Hal assured him, resting one arm on the back of the couch and balancing his foot on the coffee table. "Batman thinks the seven of us should be like a counsel or something if we do decide to induct new members. We all need to be in agreement before we make any moves."

Barry frowned down at the hand he had resting on Wally's back and shrugged, "Well, you can tell them that I'm definitely fine with it. We could always use more help. I mean, we should thoroughly check out anyone we decide to invite first – don't want to accidentally let a villain in – but other than that, it seems like a great idea. Are they looking at anyone specific yet?"

"Some archer from Star City," Hal nodded, rolling his neck to work out the cricks. He seemed ultimately uninterested and a little disappointed. "I'm supposed to be casing him to see if he's League material since we're both 'California girls' – Arthur's words, not mine."

Barry chuckled and rubbed his tired eyes, "I've actually heard of him, I think. Green Arrow, right? You sound like you don't like him."

"Oh, I don't know anything about him," Hal mildly tossed his hands up in a shrug to show that he didn't care. "I just don't know how I feel about letting in people without powers. I kinda think we should be going for big guns."

"Batman doesn't have any powers," Barry pointed out diplomatically. "Look at how effective _he_ is."

"Yeah, but at the end of the day, he's just some guy with a big brain and gadgets. What's he gonna do against a heavy hitter like Bizarro or someone?"

Batman actually probably had about twenty contingency plans for just such a scenario, but Barry decided not to go there. Instead, he smiled playfully and held up both hands, "You're just some guy with a ring. What are you gonna do without fingers?"

Hal narrowed his eyes at Barry in challenge and smirked like a dirty old man, "I'll wear the ring on my-"

"Nevermind!" Barry sighed distastefully, making a face and ignoring Hal's smug laughter. He should have known better…

The DVD title screen looped again for the fiftieth time and Barry looked down at Wally while Hal was still giggling over his own filthiness, "I'll be right back; I'm gonna go tuck Wally in real quick."

"Okay," Hal moved his leg so that Barry could scoop Wally up into his arms.

The toddler immediately latched onto Barry in his sleep and wound both arms around his neck. Barry fought down the surge of adorableness and shifted Wally onto his hip while he carried him upstairs. He brought Wally into his freshly finished bedroom and smiled when he saw the glowing lanterns all over the bed and also the walls. Hal had somehow snuck about twenty or so glow in the dark stickers everywhere.

Surprisingly, Barry didn't get jealous this time. He carefully tucked Wally into bed and stood there in the middle of the room for a moment. The soft green light reaching to every corner reminded him of the energy constructs Hal sometimes created around him when they were in space, or if something was about to hit him.

It sorta looked like Hal had one around the whole room protecting Wally while he slept.

Barry gave his nephew a quick kiss on the forehead and made sure Pavlov was secure in Wally's arms. He sped downstairs with a smile. The television was off and Hal was in the kitchen setting the dishes in the sink and throwing away pizza crusts that Wally wouldn't eat.

He peeked over his shoulder with a playful cringe when he heard Barry zip by, "You saw the stickers?"

"I did," Barry said ominously, pulling out plastic bags for the leftovers. Even if he wasn't mad, it was still fun to make him sweat a little. Hal shrank back and Barry laughed. "And I think you're a dork, but it looks nice."

"Ah _hah!_" Hal leapt over and hooked an arm around his neck. "I knew you couldn't _really_ resist the lanterns."

"Whatever," Barry lightly smacked him in the face with three bagged pizza slices. "Do me a favor and take some of this with you. I don't want Wally eating too much of this junk."

"You know me," Hal flashed him a grin. "I live on fast food and leftovers."

"I know; your body type doesn't make any sense," Barry snorted.

"High protein diet and a vigorous exercise routine of extraterrestrial brawling," Hal flexed his arms like a body builder and Barry just burst out laughing.

He darted around cleaning up the rest of the mess while Hal watched him and tried to keep up with his eyes, "So, how's Ferris Aircraft been lately? I know it takes you at least half a year to recover from vacations."

"Har har. It's…uh – it's o-okay…" Hal made a series of uncomfortable faces and looked down at his feet quietly.

Barry stopped what he was doing and stared at him shrewdly, "What did you do…?"

Hal didn't answer him.

"Oh no. You slept with Carol, didn't you?" Barry deadpanned.

"I couldn't help it!" Hal whined, flopping face down on the table. His cheek smushed one of his eyes partially closed. "There was a retirement party, and alcohol, and she was wearing a _really_ slinky dress. You know how I am about a nice pair of legs!"

"Yeah. Pathetic," Barry leaned on the counter and fixed him with an exasperated stare. "You and Carol never last more than a few months at the most."

"But we keep coming back to each other," Hal pointed out optimistically. "That's gotta mean something, doesn't it?"

"Yeah – that you're attracted to terrible relationships. You've got the worst track record for girlfriends."

"_Hey_," Hal rested his chin in his hand grumpily and stared out the window, rolling his eyes and giving in to an absent smile. "Not everyone has the perfect relationship like you and Iris."

Barry froze and the arms he had crossed over his chest fell limply to his sides. Immediate pain slammed into him and suddenly he couldn't breathe.

Hal's eyes flickered over to him at the movement and it took him a second to realize what he just said. Then, he jerked upright in the chair and stared at Barry in horror, "Oh my God, I can't believe I said that! Barry, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright," Barry hurried and put on a fake grin to hide his devastated expression, but his voice sounded hollow even to his own ears. "I mess up too sometimes."

Hal didn't seem convinced. He had a tortured, scared look on his face and he was halfway out of his seat, "Barry… I'm _so_ sorry. I really didn't-"

"Really," Barry tried to walk away to get time to compose himself. "It's okay."

"It's not," Hal insisted, reaching out for him, but Barry stepped away. "I-"

"I want to stop talking about this," Barry said almost pleadingly. He pressed a hand to the aching knot in his chest and took several deep breaths. "_Please_."

"Okay. Whatever you want," Hal held out his hands nonthreateningly and took a few steps closer.

"Thanks…" Barry kept breathing deeply. He hunched over and braced one hand on his knee. "Can you – can you go? Please. I'm not angry, I swear, I just – I need you to go. So I can be alone. I'm sorry – really sorry. Just-"

Hal shook his head remorsefully, "It's alright. If you want me to go, I'll leave. Just – you're gonna be okay, right?"

Barry nodded forcefully, but couldn't say anything else.

"I'm really sorry," Hal whispered again, and gripped Barry's arm bracingly for a moment before he backed out of the room. "I'm gonna call you tomorrow to make sure you're okay. Alright?"

Barry covered his face with one hand and tried to control his racing heart. It felt like he was having an anxiety attack. How had this happened in just a few seconds? "I'm sorry that I'm freaking out."

"No. _Geez_," Hal sighed stressfully, his voice heavy with guilt. "I – I'll just leave now."

Barry didn't move. He kept his eyes shut and focused on controlling his vibrations. When he removed his hands, Hal was gone and the house was silent. Barry turned off all the lights and mechanically undid the buttons on his shirt as he trudged upstairs. When was this gonna stop? He tossed the shirt into the open bathroom when he passed it and ran his hand over the cotton t-shirt he always wore underneath.

When he passed Wally's room, he ducked his head in to check on him and paused in the doorway when he saw the young child lying awake in the dark. Barry silently moved to the side of the bed and knelt down so that he and Wally were eye to eye. He reached out and smoothed Wally's red hair back tenderly, "What's wrong, kiddo?"

"Scared…" Wally buried his face in Pavlov and stared at Barry with one big green eye.

"Of the new house?" Barry rubbed his back soothingly. "I know it's scary and strange, but nothing's gonna get you in here. I promise. You're safe."

Wally took a deep breath and visibly relaxed a little, "Uncle Bawwy?"

"Yeah?"

"Howl said that you know the Flash," he whispered quietly, the comforter tucked all the way up to his chin.

"Um…kinda. Y'know from him dropping bad guys off at the police station," Barry tried to make Hal's explanation work for him.

"Can you tell him that I know he's sad, but I really wish he would come back?"

Barry's eyebrows pulled together and he felt the knot in his chest grow bigger. He put on a fake smile and nodded, unable to talk. Wally smiled back and snuggled into the blankets before falling back asleep, and Barry tried not to wake him as he snuck out.

_He_ wanted the Flash to come back, too.

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Hal didn't go back to Coast City for the night. Instead, he flew east towards Rhode Island and Happy Harbor. Hopefully someone was at Mt. Justice, because Hal really didn't want to be alone when he was feeling this much like trash. He totally deserved it, though. God, a Panini press could handle an emotionally fragile person better than _he_ could.

He passed through all of Batman's security to the cave with only minimal cheating – he'd written half of the passwords on a little piece of paper stored in his ring – and quickly found J'onn working on the global surveillance network they were trying to set up.

The Martian already knew he was there, of course, but he was respectful enough of their very human wariness of telepathy to allow Hal the choice to announce himself or not.

"I don't suppose you could help me figure out why I'm such a colossal fuck up, could you?" Hal groaned as he went over to the circular platform that J'onn was standing on. He sat down on the edge and rested his chin in his hand, idly tapping a piece of floating circuitry that J'onn was levitating. It flipped end over end and slowly drifted away.

"What happened?" J'onn asked stoically without moving from his spot. It looked like he wasn't listening, but Hal knew that his aptitude for multitasking far exceeded any human's. Both he and the holographic projectors being installed in the ceiling had J'onn's complete attention. J'onn also probably already knew exactly what had happened from reading Hal's mind, but he politely acted like he didn't.

Hal didn't care either way. Because of his job as a Green Lantern, he was usually more comfortable around aliens than humans anyway. "I forgot that Barry's wife was dead for a few seconds…"

"A forgivable offense…" J'onn lifted ten massive computer terminals up into the matching circular trench carved into the ceiling. A tangle of cords immediately started plugging themselves in and connecting to each other.

"You didn't see his face," Hal sighed in argument, going limp with depression and lying on his back on the floor. "Ugh! How could I forget?!"

"By your own admission, you merely forgot," J'onn actually looked at him with his passive red eyes. "It was an accident."

"An accident I couldn't afford to make," Hal pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "He was doing so well, too… It was a good day and I had to go and ruin it with my big mouth. It's just hard to separate them, y'know? For as long as I've known Barry, he's been with her. It's always been Barry and Iris – and they were perfect together! One without the other just doesn't make any sense… I forgot she was gone."

"It has only been three months. Your mind requires more time than that to adjust years of conditioning," J'onn walked over to where Hal was sprawled out on the ground and he lowered the raised, circular platform into the floor, making it all level again.

Hal made a face at the logic, "Yeah, but I'm supposed to help smooth everything over. For once in our friendship, Barry really needs me and I feel like I'm failing. I don't know what to say to make him feel better."

For a few moments, J'onn was silent like he was thinking about it. Then he smiled and telepathically pulled Hal to his feet, "I believe that ultimately, what you say is unimportant. Flash is the type of person who appreciates gestures and effort. You don't have to be good at comforting him; you just have to be there. He will forgive your mistakes as long as you try."

Hal mulled that over for a bit. J'onn was right. No matter how many times he screwed things up, Hal never quit anything.

He wasn't about to give up on helping his best friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Hal walked up to the front door of Barry's house and had barely raised his fist to knock when it flew open. Barry stepped aside to let Hal in, almost panting and looking like a mess. He turned back around and grabbed a messenger bag off the kitchen counter, slinging it over his shoulder, "Thank you so much for doing this! I'm really sorry it's so last minute, but my Captain called me in for a quintuple homicide."

"Eww, that's intense. Hey, no worries," Hal strolled in easily, standing in one spot so that he wasn't in the way as Barry was darting all over grabbing his wallet and keys. "I'm just glad I was in the area."

"Me too," Barry glanced up and gave him a stressed out smile before dashing into the next room for something else. Hal could hear him rummaging through cabinets. "I guess they're stretched thin tonight, and this is such a high profile case that Captain Frye wants me on it."

"Was it a serial killer?" Hal frowned at the place Barry had disappeared.

"Um, not sure yet," Barry came out and was shrugging on a dark blue coat. He smoothed back his hair and tugged a matching crime unit cap on his head. "Probably not – definitely mass murder, though."

Hal sometimes forgot that major crimes like this happened in Central. The bright, sunny gem cities were definitely not Gotham, but they were still dangerous. He parked himself in a chair and hung his leather flight jacket on the back, "Well, have fun examining dead bodies. Try not to make the other forensic scientists look bad."

Barry only spared him a distracted, half smile before coiling a scarf around his neck with one hand and glancing around the living room with a frown, "Watch out; Wally has the sniffles. I don't think it's anything big, but there are extra boxes of tissues in the garage if he needs them."

"I can handle it," Hal raised an eyebrow at him and leaned back in his seat. "We'll be fine until you get back. Go. Catch some murderers."

"Thank you so much," Barry literally ran out the door, giving one last harried wave before the door shut behind him.

The house was quiet then and Hal could hear his friend's footsteps crunching in the snow outside. He hadn't seen Barry look that stressed out since before Christmas. Just as Hal had feared, being a single dad on top of working full time was a lot for Barry to have on his plate. There were times when it seemed like Barry was a natural, juggling it all flawlessly while Hal looked on in awe. Other times, Barry would forget things because there was so much on his mind, struggle to find time to sleep, and go weeks without a single day off. It had been four months since he'd helped Barry move into the new house, and he'd only actually seen him in person six times since then.

Hopefully, everything would slow down in February.

Hal pushed off from the chair and rummaged around the kitchen for a few seconds, grabbing a small bowl of animal crackers and a juice box. Then he went to find Wally. The little squirt was usually right at the door waiting whenever he knew Hal was coming, so why wasn't he today?

"Wally?" he called, stomping up the stairs in his snow boots. Barry was gonna kill him for tracking water and ice everywhere.

Wally was sitting on the floor in his room surrounded by all different kinds of blocks. His back was to the door and he was just placing a rounded red block on top of a pillar when Hal came in.

"Hey, little guy," Hal put one hand on his hip, balancing the juice and crackers in the crook of his elbow.

Wally looked over his shoulder with a tired, unfocused look and sniffed, "Hi…"

"What kind of greeting is _that_?" Hal sat down beside him cross-legged and placed the bowl of animal crackers between them. He poked the straw into the juice box and drained about half of it in one gulp. "Aren't you excited to see me? I thought I was Uncle Howl."

He expected Wally to get all huffy over him stealing a juice box and throw a block at him, but he just kept staring at his toys listlessly and reached for another toy. Wally sneezed and he curled up a little from the force of it. He sat there looking a little dazed for a few seconds and Hal crawled towards him in concern.

"You alright there, Wally?" He held a hand to Wally's forehead. His skin was _really_ warm. But was it fever warm? What did that feel like? How was he supposed to know for sure? Oh. Duh – a thermometer. Hal looked around for a tissue and held it up to Wally's nose. "You're not looking so good."

"I don't feel good…" Wally mumbled, blowing his nose as hard as he could. He was a pale kid naturally, but his skin was almost ghostly white. Hal tossed the tissue away and hoisted Wally up, frowning at how he immediately dropped his toys like he was dizzy. That wasn't good. He carefully tucked Wally into bed and tried to arrange the pillows so he was sitting sort of upright.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Uncle Barry keeps the thermometer, would you?" Hal smothered his rising panic and tried to act calm and normal.

Wally sneezed again and fixed him with a confused look, "What's a hermoter?"

"Yeah, I didn't think so…" Hal sighed and ruffled Wally's hair. "Hang tight, kid. I'll be right back."

He dashed out of the room and paused when he got to the hallway. Where would Barry keep the thermometer? He'd keep it neat and tidy with the rest of the first aid medical supplies. But where? Where did _he_ keep his own thermometer? Well, he didn't have one, because he wasn't technically a functioning member of society. Alright, where had his mom kept it when he was a boy?

"The bathroom," Hal snapped his fingers with a triumphant grin and sprinted to the upstairs bathroom. He flicked on the light and started rummaging around in the cabinets, closet, and the hidden shelves behind the mirror. Nothing.

He went downstairs next and checked the bathroom beside the garage door. He tore down the top shelf and found a box full of headache medicine, disinfectant, and bandages. There was a small thermometer at the bottom and Hal almost crowed in victory when he found it. He snatched it up and was upstairs giving it to Wally in seconds.

"Keep it under your tongue until it beeps, okay?" Hal sat on the edge of the bed and glanced out the window at the thick blanket of snow covering everything. He hoped Barry's crime scene was indoors, otherwise he was gonna be sick too.

"Otay," Wally mumbled around the thermometer. He was usually such a burning ball of energy that it was alarming to see him so weak. Hal bit his lip and grabbed the worn Flash blanket at the foot of the bed. He wrapped it around Wally and gave the toddler a reassuring smile.

Maybe it was nothing and Wally would be up and running around like his normal self in no time.

The thermometer beeped again and Hal nervously pulled it out of Wally's mouth to read the numbers.

100 degrees.

Shit…

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Barry carefully lifted the bloody knife from the concrete and deposited it in the evidence bag his partner was holding open, "That should do it. I want a few more sweeps of the back door just to be safe, but we should be able to reopen the street soon."

"Five stabbings in broad daylight?" Tony sealed up the bad and they both walked it to the truck. "That's… odd, right? I mean, unless he had a psychotic break or something, who goes swinging a knife around in the middle of the biggest restaurant in Central."

"I've seen weirder," Barry replied vaguely, lifting up the trunk of the black SUV. He tried his best to act like nothing was off, but Tony was right. Five murders, middle of the day, busiest part of the city in the most popular restaurant, for no reason? He'd been fighting the Rogues long enough to spot their handiwork. This was a diversion that had gotten out of hand – drug and pay off a random person to go cause a scene and gather as many police officers as they could while a heist was going on across town.

People didn't usually die during the diversions, but drugs were unpredictable. Accidents happen. Barry glanced sideways at the squad car currently holding the assailant. The man was cuffed and screaming wildly, banging his head against the window over and over. He was definitely on a bad trip.

But, which Rogue was behind it?

Pied Piper wouldn't be this sloppy. He was meticulous and he _didn't_ kill. Barry started removing his gloves and boot covers for evidence while he thought. Heatwave wasn't so subtle. He preferred explosions and setting forest fires for his distractions. Barry tossed his white coveralls in with Tony's and put his coat back on. This time of year, Weather Wizard would be using blizzards, and it wasn't Trickster's style at all.

Mirror Master hated drugs and Captain Boomerang was more likely to arm his pawns with projectiles than knives. So, that left the Top and Captain Cold. Both were plausible. The Top liked to kill his victims directly, though, but it wasn't outside the realm of possibility for him to outsource.

Barry tried to ignore his instincts and the twisting feeling in his gut that urged him to run and check the city over at superspeed. He looked down both sides of the street, past the flashing squad cars and police tape, trying to see if anything was out of the ordinary and hoping it wasn't. Aside from the handful of onlookers at the edges of the perimeter and it seemed quiet.

"How's it look, Allen?"

Barry snapped out of his paranoia and turned around to see two of the squad's best detectives approaching him from the sidewalk.

"Pretty straightforward," he beckoned them closer to do a walkthrough. "Your perp came in from the restaurant's back entrance, through the kitchen and attacked victim number one right here."

They gathered around an overturned table close to the back where the bodies' locations were all numbered with signs. He moved to the second sign the next table over, "Victim number two tried to run, but she took a knife to the back here, staggered a few more steps and collapsed. Then, it looks like your third victim tried to fight back. He had defensive wounds on his forearms where the perp slashed him. He was stabbed twice right here on the floor and he would have exsanguinated within seconds. The fourth victim was slashed on her left shoulder and crashed into this table. She broke her neck on the fall and trapped victim number five under her. Number five sustained one stab wound to the lower right leg and another to the chest."

"Does the restaurant have any cameras?" Detective Broome nodded slowly at the bloody scene like he was running through it all in his head.

"Ten," Barry put his hands on his hips. "Six of which captured footage of the attack. The tapes are on their way to the station."

"Well, that makes things easier," Detective Meritt flashed him a wry smile and tilted her head to the side. "I'm glad the Captain called you in on this. Ninety percent of our job is done for us when you're the one processing the scene, Allen."

Barry was too tired to offer much creative banter in return. He just took the compliment with a shrug and headed for the front doors with a polite nod to them both, "Well, mine's only half done. I need to go catalogue the evidence we gathered. Your perp's in cuffs outside waiting to be interrogated."

Both detectives offered him waves of goodbye and then Barry was out in the freezing cold again. He shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled the scarf out again to wrap it around his neck. Ugh – he was _not_ a winter person; he couldn't wait for the gloom and cold to go away.

Tony was waiting for him to give the okay to transport the evidence, so Barry flashed him a thumbs-up and thumped the side of the car twice with his fist. It took off and Barry lifted his sleeve a little to check his watch. It read 3:38pm. He closed his eyes wearily and groaned. He'd been at this almost four hours. Barry dug out his cell phone and flipped it open to see if Hal had called him while he had it on silent. Hopefully, everything was going smoothly at home. Wally had seemed a little sick this morning and Barry was really crossing his fingers for it to be nothing.

A tiny number eight glowed in the corner of the screen where his message folder was, and Barry sighed as he pressed a few buttons to open it.

That's when he heard the sirens and screams. Tony was just reaching the end of the block with his SUV when a roaring avalanche of ice came ripping down a side street. It crashed into the front end of his car and flipped it through the intersection, freezing over the whole street and crawling up the buildings on the corners.

Barry crouched down behind a squad car and seconds later, Captain Cold came sliding down the icy ramp with the hood of his blue and white jacket thrown back. Another forensic tech knelt beside him and they both watched the Rogue from less than a block away. So, he'd been right; the murders had been a distraction for Cold.

He stepped into the center of the frozen over intersection and threw both blowing blue hands up. A massive tower of ice formed beneath his feet and took him straight up into the air above most of the buildings. A separate ice formation followed him up, carrying twelve bulging, black duffel bags.

Great. He'd robbed a bank.

Cars crashed into each other and the giant ice tower and the sound of screeching brakes filled the air. Barry's legs tensed instantly, but he couldn't move. He needed to help. He needed to help _right now_, but he couldn't. His muscles refused to budge, but he still wanted to speed over and melt Cold's ice with the heat he generated from friction. Barry just struggled to breathe and agonized over what to do.

For a second, it looked like Captain Cold was about to escape on the rooftops, but instead of fleeing, he created a cloud of deadly sharp ice spikes and hurled them at the direction he'd come from.

An alarmingly long arm stretched into view and grabbed the base of the icy pillar, curling around it and slingshotting a body over. Barry saw Elongated Man hug close to the tower to avoid Captain Cold's barrage of spikes. He shot up the tower like a snake and made a grab for Cold, who leapt from the top and created a slimmer ramp to the street. Ralph just stretched one leg down to the ground and stepped off like it was nothing.

Barry released the breath he was holding – and the death grip on the bumper – and immediately felt like garbage. Why the hell couldn't he get past this? People were in real danger and they needed him to be the Flash. Why did the thought of putting on the uniform send him into a paralyzing panic?

Barry glared down at the slushy asphalt and dug his nails into his palms. Who was he kidding? He knew exactly why – because it was the Flash's fault that Iris was dead. _Flash_ had made her a target, and Barry didn't want anything to do with that persona anymore.

But he still felt the pull to help people. He didn't think that was ever going to go away. Flash may be a failure, but _Barry_ refused to be.

He darted out from behind the police car and made a beeline for Tony's overturned SUV.

"_Barry!_" Two of his coworkers yelled for him to come back, but he ignored them.

Razor sharp shards of ice pelted the street all around from Ralph's fight with Cold, and Barry did his best to dodge. No one was going near the edge of the battle, but Tony was right in the middle of it. He slid precariously on the ice and almost wished for the friction resistant boots of his costume.

The whole front of the SUV to the rear passenger doors was encased in ice so thick that Barry couldn't see into the car. He crept around to the back and pulled his shoe off to stick on his hand, and then he crouched down and smashed it into the rear windshield until it shattered.

"Tony!" He shouted, knocking out as many shards of glass as he could to clear a safe gap.

Tony was unconscious and nearly upside down, slumped over the gearshift in the front. Barry couldn't tell if he was badly injured or not from this angle. He climbed through the window, absently noting that the evidence they'd collected had spilled out of the case and was scattered all over the headliner. Barry just shoved it all aside and forced his way to the front of the car, ducking under the head rests and folding both of the rear seats down so he had more room.

"_Tony_," he knocked Tony's limp arm aside and reached around to take his pulse. His vein throbbed against Barry's fingers and he twitched a little against the seatbelt. Oh good, he was alive.

Barry pulled out his utility knife and sawed through the straps of the seatbelt. He caught Tony around the chest when he dropped free and dragged him back to the rear of the car, wincing when he heard his coworker's knees bumping into things on the way.

Outside, ice shattered with thunderous cracks and the ground shifted beneath the hood. Barry moved faster, kicking out more of the back window. Two police officers had run up to help and were kneeling by the back to help. Barry shifted out of the way and let them both pull Tony free of the wreckage before he crawled out after him.

Tony was starting to come to as they rushed him out and he blinked groggily at the sky, "Watch…out. Captain Cold…just ran that red light…"

Barry exhaled with a relieved laugh and patted Tony's cut up jacket, "Thanks for the heads up, buddy."

They stayed low and hurried to get back behind the police line where an ambulance was still on standby. Barry hung back out of the way and held out his hands while a paramedic examined where shards of glass had pierced through his gloves. He stared after the fight raging on, eyes following every impossible, contorting dodge Ralph made and the solid ice formations Captain Cold hurled around. Their fight spilled down to the next street and moved further and further away.

Despite not wanting to be the Flash anymore, Barry could barely restrain himself from running after them.

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"I don't feel good…" Wally sniffed miserably as he hugged Pavlov, his little eyes swimming with tears.

Hal's heart was in pieces by now. He just rubbed Wally's back soothingly and glanced at his cell phone to see if he'd missed a call from Barry, "I know, little man, I know. But you'll feel better soon, I promise."

He was _not_ going to feel better soon – not unless Hal went out and got some medicine, because there wasn't even a single drop of it in the house.

"I want my Daddy," Wally cried softly.

Hal stiffened up a little and fumbled internally for a second. Shoot. How was he going to explain this? "Uhh…didn't your Uncle Barry explain to you what happened…to him? To _them_?"

"Uncle Bawwy _is_ Daddy," Wally told him with a little bit of crankiness.

"Oh," Hal smiled in brief relief, and then he realized what that meant. _Oh_. Aww… He was already calling Barry 'Daddy'.

"I want him," Wally hiccupped again and Hal clumsily smoothed his hair back to comfort him. "Where's Daddy?"

Why was he so bad at this?

"I'm sorry, Walls," Hal sighed, looking around the room for anything that would make him feel better. "He's still at work."

Wally just cried harder and reached out for him. Hal kept him bundled in a blanket and lifted Wally into his lap, "Shhh. It'll be okay. He'll be home soon."

He really needed to get some medicine in this kid. He could go out and buy some, but he didn't want to leave Wally all alone in the house. The nearest store was only something like ten minutes away though. Hal chewed his lip for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. He could call someone – Barry always left emergency numbers on the fridge.

Hal rubbed Wally's back and carried him downstairs to the kitchen where the phone numbers were stuck to the fridge with a few colorful alphabet magnets. Who to call… Ralph Dibny, Darryl Frye, the police station, Hal Jordan – _heh_ – Clark Kent, Jay Garrick…

He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Jay's number. Who better to call when you needed help _right now_ than a speedster? He waited a few seconds for the retired hero to pick up and positioned the phone between his shoulder and ear, "Hi, Jay, this is Hal."

_"Hal. Good to hear from you, son. Everything alright?"_

Hal checked Wally's forehead with the back of his hand again, "Yeah. I just need a small favor if you're up to it."

_"Sure. What do you need?"_

"I'm at Barry's place babysitting Wally for him and the kid's got a bit of a fever," Hal explained, trying to remember all the things his own mom did for him as a child when he was sick. He got one of Wally's sippy cups out of the cabinet and struggled to open it with one hand. Always drink a lot of water so the fever doesn't make you dehydrate. "Is there any way you can come over and watch him for a few minutes while I run to the store to grab him some medicine?"

_"Of course," _Jay said immediately. Man, why couldn't Alan Scott be this helpful for _him_? _"You want me to grab whatever you need and bring it over?"_

"Nah, I can handle that," Hal shook his head. Wally noticed what he was trying to do and held the cup for him in both tiny hands while he removed the lid. Hal smiled at him gratefully and filled the cup with water. "I just need someone to stay here with him while I'm gone."

The line went dead and, four seconds later, Jay was opening the back door with an easy smile. Unsurprisingly, he was just as bad at coming up with plausible excuses as Barry was, "Good thing I was just outside instead of all the way in Keystone. Hahahaha."

Hal rolled his eyes. He was betting that Wally would figure out all their identities by the time he was seven.

Jay took Wally from him and ruffled his hair fondly, "Isn't that uncanny, Wally?"

"What's 'uncandy' mean?" Wally asked innocently, coughing into his shoulder.

"_Exactly!_" Jay threw his head back and laughed. Wally twisted around in his arms and gave Hal a foggy, confused look.

He just shrugged and mouthed 'I don't know'. He put on his brown flight jacket and shouldered his way out the door into the freezing dusk. The cold was already digging its way through his clothes. "Thanks for helping me out, Jay. I don't want Wally to get sicker waiting for Barry to come home."

"Any time," Jay smiled at him genuinely. "People like me and Barry hardly ever get sick, so we don't usually think about keeping a stock of medicine. I bet 'you know who' was the one who took care of that stuff before."

Iris had taken care of a lot more than just that. Hal wouldn't try to replace her, but he could help relieve some of the burden of her absence.

"Yeah," he nodded absently in agreement with Jay before grinning with sudden determination. "I'll be back in a Flash."

Hal shut the door behind him and powered up his ring for flight. He was going to buy every fucking thing of medicine in the grocery store!

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Barry finished writing up his reports around 7:30 at night. He hadn't gotten the chance to speak to Ralph yet and thank him for patrolling the city; the fight had taken him across town. Barry had gone with Tony in the ambulance and stayed with him while he got his head scanned and cuts stitched up. Thankfully, there wasn't anything seriously wrong with him, and Barry drove him home to make sure he got there safely. It was also partly his excuse to get out of _recollecting_ the evidence from the crime scene since the crash had contaminated a lot of it. Any smart lawyer could get it thrown out in court.

Barry pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the missed calls while he was stopped at a red light. It had been so crazy today that he hadn't remembered to look at his messages after Captain Cold attacked. He wasn't too worried – Hal was actually a pretty great babysitter. He was a terrible influence on Wally though, and he kept trying to bump Barry out of his spot as Wally's favorite hero. He didn't mind as much anymore.

The Flash wasn't high up on his own list.

A tiny number eight glowed beside his missed calls box and Barry sighed. Crap… what had gone wrong? He checked the number – they were all from Hal's cell and the house.

The light changed to green and Barry drove home as fast as he could, coming up with all kinds of insane disaster scenarios.

He pulled into the driveway soon after and didn't even lock the car when he got out – he barely remembered to turn off the engine. Barry opened the unlocked door and immediately tripped over a cluster of grocery bags when he darted in.

Jay was watching him stumble to regain his balance from behind the counter. He calmly ladled some soup from a container into a bowl and gave Barry an amused smile, "That was graceful."

Barry caught himself on a chair and looked around the kitchen in baffled shock, "What the-?"

There were full grocery bags littered all over the floor by the door and surrounding the table like it was an island. Even more bags had been tossed on top of every surface along with small, empty boxes, torn plastic seals, and crumpled up receipts. He picked up one of the bags and peered inside. It was all medicine and pharmacy supplies: children's fever reducer, thermometer covers, vapor rub, nasal spray, nausea relief, cough syrup, mucus reducer.

He slowly looked around at the other twenty bags and his eyebrows rose. They were all full of the same things. "Holy crap. What _is_ all this?"

"Wally's sick," Jay stuck the bowl in the microwave and set the timer. "Poor little tyke."

"Sick, or _dying_?" Barry mused out loud, picking up a severe cold and flu box that looked like it had been torn open with a meat grinder. "How bad is he?"

Wally had only been sniffling when he left.

"Not very," Jay chuckled, stirring the soup and putting the rest of the container in the fridge. "But I don't think Hal's ever had to take care of a sick _anything_ before. He went a little overboard."

"He brought all this?" Barry carefully kicked a path clear to the kitchen. They wouldn't use this much medicine in a whole year. "What are you doing here?"

"Hal asked me to watch Wally while he went to get all this," Jay pulled out the bowl and tested how warm it was with a self-pleased grin. "_Then_ I brought over Joanie's famous chicken noodle soup."

Barry raised an eyebrow at him right as Hal came stomping down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen while frowning down at the thermometer in his hands, "Okay, I just took his temperature. It's 100.7 degrees. That's an increase of .003 degrees since five minutes ago! Should I give him some more medicine?! I'm gonna check again in a few minutes."

"I think he'll live," Jay handed him the bowl of soup and nodded towards Barry to direct his attention.

"Oh, good! You're back. Wally's been asking for you over and over and I was running out of things to tell him," Hal sighed in relief. Then he saw Barry's expression and paused. "What?"

"Hal…too much," Barry gestured to all the bags of medicine and his mouth pulled into a wry smile.

"I didn't know what to get," Hal said defensively and headed back upstairs with the soup. He glanced over his shoulder at Barry and shrugged. "So I bought everything…"

"Dork," Barry snickered. He followed Hal up to Wally's room and found the young redhead coughing pretty hard. Hal had wrapped him up in a blanket like a burrito and plugged in a humidifier, so now the whole room was like a sauna. Barry took a startled breath and could have drowned on all the moisture in the air, "Oh my God, Hal."

"He's cold!" Hal gestured at the Wally burrito. "Look at him; he's shakin like a leaf. _Teeth_ were chattering!"

"That's what fevers do," Barry unplugged the humidifier and shook his head with a smile. "They make you feel cold when you're actually burning up."

"Oh…" Hal's righteous indignation deflated a little and he glanced down at the steaming soup. "So, this soup is probably a bad idea, huh?"

"Are you kidding? That's Joan Garrick's soup – that stuff's magic," Barry joked, turning the fan on low to clear out some of the steam. "Nah, it's too late now. A warm bath would've been better, but we can just sweat it out. He'll be fine."

"Okay," Hal said uncertainly and moved out of the way so Barry could kneel next to the bed.

"Hey, tough guy," Barry rested his elbows on the bed and poked Wally's blanket cocoon.

Wally opened his eyes and they went wide when he looked at Barry, "Hi, Daddy…"

His little, astonished voice froze Barry in place and he watched with a glazed over expression while Wally rolled side to side in an effort to get free of the blanket. He made a few tiny, frustrated noises and Hal just laughed, resting one hand on his hip.

"You're not gonna get out of there. I used to work at Taco Sombrero – my burritos don't fall apart."

"I'm not a breeto," Wally argued.

"You look like one to me…"

Barry almost punched Hal in the back of the knee. Wally had just called him 'daddy' for the first time and he was ruining the beautiful moment!

"I don't wanna turn to a breeto!" Wally cried in alarm, fighting harder now to free his arms. He almost toppled off the bed and Barry caught him with one hand.

"No one's turning into a burrito," he picked Wally up and loosened the blanket so he could sit on the edge of the bed. "Do you think you could eat a little bit for me?"

"What is it?" he asked cautiously, turning his head to the side and looking at the bowl in Hal's hands like he was thinking about it.

"Grandma Joan's chicken noo-"

Barry didn't even get to finish the sentence before Wally perked up and nodded eagerly, "Oh, yes."

He sounded like a little boss approving a particularly appealing budget plan. Barry had to laugh, "You like her soup, huh?"

"Yes," Wally reached for the bowl, and Hal handed it over with a disgruntled but impressed slant to his mouth.

"_I_ couldn't get him to eat," he huffed.

Wally didn't offer any response to that. He just dug in to the soup, clumsily holding the big spoon like a shovel. Barry cradled him close and made sure he didn't spill anything, scrunching up his face and tossing Hal a nervous smile, "So…I don't suppose you'd still want to babysit for me ever again after this?"

Hal narrowed his eyes at Barry and flopped onto the floor cross-legged. He leaned on his knees and gave an exhausted groan, "And give more proof of what a screw up I am? No thank you; I intend to be your _only_ babysitter until Wally turns at least thirty."

"You're not grossed out by sick children with all their snotty noses and infectious tendencies?" Barry asked in a mocking, innocent tone, locking his arms around Wally and keeping the bowl of soup steady.

Hal laughed and shrugged like it was no big deal, "Infectious tendencies? Like what?"

Not two seconds later, Wally sneezed and sprayed Hal with a mixture of soup and snot – right in the face. Barry burst out laughing and started choking as he tried to keep it quiet. Hal just sat there with his eyes and mouth shut, a blank, vaguely horrified look frozen on his face. To his credit, he did a great job fighting down any and all reaction. Barry calmly wiped Wally's nose with a tissue and tossed the rest of the box down to Hal, "Like _that_."

Hal dragged a tissue over his face like a towel and chuckled in faux-calm, good-natured hysteria, "_Oh, that!_ No, not at all. That doesn't bother me – not one bit. Why would it?!"

Barry clapped and shook his head like the performance had deeply moved him, "Wow… What a trooper."

Jay walked into the room then and smiled at the three of them, "I set up your new pharmacy in the garage in case you go looking for anything."

Hal was still violently scrubbing at his face, so Barry let him work, "You're the best, Jay. Thanks for coming over to help, and please tell Joan Wally and I say thank you for the soup."

"Anything to help the little guy feel better," Jay came over and ruffled Wally's hair. Then he gave Barry a pointed look like he was trying to convey something important. "I'm gonna _wander around town_ for a bit before heading back to Keystone, alright?"

"Sure," Barry nodded, feeling another twinge of regret. He was saying that he'd patrol Central before going back home. It was a good idea – especially after Captain Cold's attack that afternoon – but Barry couldn't help feeling guilty. It should be _him_ protecting his city, not Jay picking up his slack.

"You three boys have a good night, now," Jay snapped his fingers and made them into a gun before waving at them all and heading out.

"Night," Hal grumbled back.

Wally yawned widely and pushed the bowl away. Barry looked down at him in concern. There was still a lot of soup left. "You didn't eat much, kiddo."

"I'm tired," Wally's unfocused eyes blinked a few times and he sniffed again.

"Do you promise me you'll eat more in the morning?" Barry raised an eyebrow at him. Wally bobbed his head up and down in a nod, and Barry pulled him into a one-armed hug. He kissed him on the forehead and stood up. "Okay. Get some sleep, then."

"Wait!" Wally grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled Barry back. "I don't wanna sleep here."

"How come?" Barry looked around the bedroom quizzically. Granted, it felt like a jungle in here, but it wasn't too bad. "Where do you wanna sleep?"

Wally looked down at his bare feet and picked at the buttons on his pajamas. Hal was frowning at him too until he seemed to figure it out and glanced up at Barry with a knowing smile. Then it clicked. Barry set the bowl on top of Wally's toy chest and put his hands on his hips with a smile, "How about you sleep in my room with me tonight? Just in case you feel really sick again. You wanna do that?"

Wally nodded.

"C'mere then," Barry scooped him up in both arms and grabbed Pavlov off the bed. He carried Wally across the hall and into his own room where he plopped him down in the middle of the much larger bed. "Okay, get all settled in and I'll be right back. I'm gonna go walk Uncle Hal out."

"No!" Wally crawled to the foot of the bed and clutched Pavlov to his chest.

"What?" Barry looked back at Hal, who was waiting for him in the doorway with a confused expression.

"I want Uncle Howl to stay," Wally said shyly, flipping one of Pavlov's floppy ears up and down.

Hal's arms unfolded in surprise and he just stood there awkwardly, "Uh…"

"Wally, I think he's gotta get home," Barry put a big hand on his shoulder to console him. "Hal did me a big favor and he was here almost half the day."

"Pleeeeease?" Wally looked up at them both with the most intense case of puppy dog eyes that Barry had seen in a long time. The adorable green eyes bored into Barry's soul and it seemed like Hal was getting it even worse. He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot for a long minute, and then his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"I can stay," he said eventually, and Wally started glowing with happiness.

The toddler immediately crawled up the bed and chose his spot in the dead center, not even bothering to pull back the covers. He wrapped up in his Flash blankie while Barry and Hal lay down on either side of him.

"Is this weird?" Hal asked half seriously, kicking off his shoes and netting his fingers together over his stomach.

"Well, you're always weird, so I guess so," Barry teased him lightly.

Before Barry could fully stretch out though, Wally rolled over and hugged him around the neck, "I love you, Daddy."

His heart twisted suddenly and he looked over Wally's shoulder at Hal's grinning face. He hugged Wally right back, taking a steadying breath, "I love you too, honey."

Happy with that, Wally grabbed his arm with one hand and went back to his original spot beside Hal. He grabbed Hal's arm with his other hand and hugged both close, sandwiched between them, "Goodnight."

They both told him goodnight and stayed there until he fell asleep, which was remarkably quickly. Barry guessed that Hal must've given him some cough syrup that knocked him out.

"Do you need me to head out?" Hal whispered from Wally's other side, looking awkward about it.

Barry looked over at him and his eyes honed in on how Wally was snuggled into Hal's shoulder. He smiled to himself, feeling beyond lucky to have such a great friend, and shook his head before closing his eyes, "You should stay."

Hal didn't say anything back for a few seconds, and the room was dark and quiet. Then, he heard a muffled 'You're cooking me breakfast in the morning'.


	5. Chapter 5

Barry ducked into the house so he could hear better. He was at Ralph and Sue Dibny's house and they were barbequing outside. He loved Sue like a sister, but good God she had a loud laugh. Barry shut the ornate, sliding glass door behind him and walked into the high-ceilinged living room, holding his cell phone to his ear, "A what arrow?"

_"A boxing glove arrow,"_ Hal said from the other end of the connection. He was in Star City following the masked vigilante, Green Arrow, again. At first, he hadn't seemed too enthusiastic about the assignment, but now it looked like the archer was starting to genuinely interest him. _"Would it be able to fly?"_

He tried to mentally picture an arrow with a giant boxing glove as the tip, and ended up laughing, "No. It would just nose dive."

"_See, that's what I thought, too! But this guy just took out a freakin car with it,"_ Hal said excitedly. Barry could hear wind rushing by the receiver on Hal's end and figured his friend must be flying. _"I don't think physics works the same way in Star City. I've been tailing this guy on and off for the last couple months and some of the shit I've seen him do is just ridiculous."_

"He's probably a metahuman," Barry paced around the expensive display case coffee table in a loose circle. He was too clumsy to risk breaking anything, and Ralph's house was full of priceless things. Sue was a really talented interior decorator, and she'd spared no expense on her own home.

_"I don't think so,"_ Hal sounded like he was pretty sure of that. _"I think he's just like Batman – except, y'know, the opposite end of the personality color wheel. Like, this guy smiles and cracks jokes while he's beating people up."_

"Sounds like you two would get along," Barry breathed out with a laugh.

_"Jury's still out on that one,"_ he said skeptically. _"Anyways, I gotta go. He's heading back south and I'm gonna lose him in the buildings if I'm all the way up here. I just had to tell you about the arrow right quick."_

"You're a dork," Barry smiled indulgently even though he knew Hal couldn't see it. "Go do your job, and please don't piss this guy off and get yourself shot."

_ "No promises."_

Barry closed his phone and stuffed it back into his pocket. Sometimes, he really worried about Hal's self-preservation instincts. He went back outside where it was finally warming up. Early April was the perfect mix of balmy temperatures and cooling rain, and he was taking full advantage of it while it lasted. He and Wally had already been to the national park behind their home nearly twenty times this season. He wished Wally was here with him right now, but he was at a birthday party – hopefully having fun.

For a while now, Barry had been getting worried about Wally not socializing well with other kids his age. All his friends had been in Nebraska and he hadn't really made any new ones since he'd been living in Central. Barry had told all his coworkers who had children about his concerns, and Tony immediately invited Wally to his daughter's birthday party. She was a few years older, but young enough for the age gap to not matter.

They were at some fancy new play place in the city with an army of childcare certified attendants watching them. Somehow, though, Barry still wasn't comfortable leaving Wally with strangers – no matter how capable they were. But ever since January, Tony had been insisting that Barry had saved his life and pledged to pay him back for it however he could. Barry wasn't a particularly needy person, so opportunities were slim. Tony jumped on the chance to help him out with Wally right away, thinking he was introducing Wally to possible new friends, _and_ giving Barry a day off from being a dad at the same time.

Barry _loved_ being a dad. He wasn't overly fond of getting a 'day off' from it, but Wally needed some fun. He'd spent most of the winter being sick and getting restless.

Barry stepped back outside to the patio and sat down next to Sue. She was still happily chattering away at Ralph from the exact same spot she'd been in before. "Sorry about that. Hal's like a kid; he's always calling me and telling me about whatever weird stuff just happened to him."

"It's fine," Ralph smiled brightly from the grill. He turned the hotdogs and burgers over and closed the lid. "We know how Hal is."

"What was it this time?" Sue asked eagerly. She treated their exploits like they were from adventure novels.

"Nothing too thrilling," Barry tried not to laugh at how Sue scooted her lawn chair closer and excitedly sipped on a glass of lemonade. Of all the superhero spouses he'd ever known, Sue was the only one who went along with her significant other on his adventures. "He's evaluating a hero for Justice League membership."

At the same time, Sue got even more interested and Ralph's head snapped up in scandalized shock.

"Ooh! Which one?!"

"What?! What about _me_?!"

"Green Arrow," Barry said with a shrug. Even with how much Hal talked about him, Barry didn't know very much about Green Arrow beyond that he was blond, shot arrows, and was 'awesome'. "And I've already pitched you to the League."

"What did they think?" Ralph hopped over in his apron. Unconsciously, his limbs and neck started to stretch out in his eagerness.

"We haven't voted yet."

"But what did they _think_?" Ralph swung his grill tongs around frantically. "Were they impressed? Uninterested? _Amused_? What did _Batman_ say? Does he know I'm a detective as well? Did you tell him about any of the cases I've helped you with?"

"Oh, they were _very _interested," Barry nodded sagely, trying to ignore Sue's proud gaze at her husband. In truth, he didn't really know how the others had received his presentation on Ralph. Batman had been stoic and enigmatic as usual, Wonder Woman had been criticizing the lack of female nominees, Hal had been napping, and the others hadn't done much else but nod like they were considering it. "They also talked about Plastic Man, but he's a psychopath, so I think you're good."

"How exciting would it be if you got to work with Superman or Batman one day?!" Sue tossed a billion watt smile over at Ralph, and Barry held up both of his hands in betrayed disbelief. What the hell was _he _then? Neither on them noticed. "When are you voting?"

Barry's expression went blank and he felt his stomach tighten uncomfortably. This time, Ralph and Sue seemed to sense the change in atmosphere right away. "Uhm…when I go back to active duty."

Sue dropped her eyes respectfully and folded her hands together in her lap. When she spoke, her voice was soft and careful, "Do you know when that's going to be yet…?"

He didn't answer right away. He couldn't.

"Not that I mind covering for you _at all_," Ralph assured him quickly. "Susie and I like the thought of putting our roots down here for awhile. We're both tired of traveling for the moment, and fighting your Rogues is great exercise. And I want you to take all the time you need. If I lost Susie, I… I don't even know… We just want to know how you're doing. Do you feel like you're okay to fight crime again?"

When he hated himself this much? Not likely…

"Have your powers gone back to normal?" Sue gracefully tried to steer the conversation down a less suffocating path.

"I don't know," Barry said quietly. He leaned back in his seat and stared up at the bright, sunny sky morosely.

"You don't know?" Ralph sounded like he didn't understand. Barry didn't blame him.

He took a deep breath and readied himself for the impending lectures, "I haven't used my speed in three months."

He didn't have to look to know that both Ralph and Sue were probably gaping at him in disbelief and alarm. They shuffled around a bit while Barry silently watched the clouds roll by. Ralph cleared his throat uncertainly, "Barry… your powers are a _huge_ part of you. You can't just ignore them forever."

He could if he tried hard enough.

But that wasn't entirely true. Even if Barry didn't run at superspeed, he still experienced the world around him at a different pace than everyone else. That would never change. It wasn't like he didn't _want_ to stop hating the Flash – he just couldn't find a good enough reason to.

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It was very hard to be inconspicuous when it was broad daylight, in the middle of a _very_ busy city, and he was glowing bright green. Hal had dimmed his ring's light down as much as he could, but a few eagle-eyed people had still pointed him out. Luckily, his quarry had not. Hal was currently hiding on top of a skyscraper, watching Green Arrow free running across a busy plaza.

Hal couldn't tell what he was chasing now, but he could barely keep up by sneaking around. Really, why wasn't Batman on this? He was much better at being a ninja.

Green Arrow cleared the shopping center and ducked into a giant drainage pipe. Hal cursed under his breath and flew after him. He landed on the embankment above the pipe and weighed his options. If he lost him, Batman would have his head, but if he went in after Green Arrow and got discovered, Bats would skin him alive, and then kill him.

He groaned, took a deep breath, and then dropped into the pitch black tunnel. Hal willed his ring to shine like a flashlight and held it out in front of him as he navigated the pipe. He really hoped it didn't split off until he caught up a bit more, cause Hal was _not_ feeling sewer exploring. Thankfully, the tunnel didn't branch off for a long time. Hal got close enough to hear retreating footsteps and quickly went dark again.

He crept along the walkway silently and followed the footsteps around the corner down the right fork. Hal couldn't see anything; it was too risky to glow even a little. He could only hear the trickle of water steadily flowing by below him. Hal made it almost twenty steps before he felt the tip of an arrow press into his chest. His ring automatically flared to life to protect him and it created a shield along the contours of his body, illuminating the area around him.

Green Arrow was less than three feet away, smiling, and pointing a drawn arrow right at him, "Hi."

Hal sighed and resisted the urge to create an equally threatening construct, holding up his hands in surrender, "Uh, hey."

"You've been following me," Green Arrow smiled, and his meticulously trimmed mustache jumped. Hal wondered if he could pull off a mustache and beard. Probably not… He'd ask Barry about it later.

"What makes you think that?" he asked evasively, trying to buy time more than anything else.

"I put a bug on you last month," the archer shrugged, his arm not shaking in the slightest. He was the epitome of cool and collected. Similarly, Hal tried not to move too. He didn't want to give this guy any reason to fire. His ring would definitely hold against a normal arrow, but Hal had been watching Green Arrow for a long time. He carried anything _but_ normal arrows. Who knows what he had in his quiver?

"What?" Hal couldn't help glancing down at his uniform. It appeared and disappeared whenever he took his ring off. Anything that got on the uniform would just fall off when the ring was powered down. Hal loved it. It saved him from all the awkward dry cleaning situations Barry had to deal with. "_Where_?"

"Right there," Green Arrow nodded towards the ring on Hal's right hand.

Hal frowned in confusion for a moment and then abandoned his statue act, bringing his hand up close to his face and lighting up the tunnel more. He squinted at the ring and turned his hand all different angles to try and find it.

There, on the side of the lantern, was a minuscule tracking device.

His brain reeled to figure out what that meant. Hal hardly ever took his ring off, and when he did, it was never further away than his pocket. If Green Arrow had that bug on him for a month…all the things he'd overheard… He knew Hal's name, his job, his whole life. He knew _Barry and Wally's_ names – where they lived… How many times had he mentioned Barry's powers to him in the last month? Immediately, a protective rage flared up and he turned a furious glare onto the archer.

"Bullshit!" Hal cried angrily, smacking the arrow away from his chest and holding his fist out at the vigilante. "How did this bug get here?!"

"Remember last month when that boathouse at the docks exploded?" Green Arrow didn't seem fazed by Hal's outburst. He just took a few measured steps backwards and aimed the arrow at Hal's face this time. "I used the flying debris as a distraction and I shot your ring when you weren't looking."

Hal remembered. He'd been pelted with bits of splintered wood and burning shrapnel. Some of it had hit him even as high up in the air as he'd been. He also remembered shielding his face with an arm, so he hadn't been able to see _everything_ that pelted him. Still, though, for Green Arrow to make a shot like that. He held his ring hand up and raised an eyebrow at the archer, "How did you even hit a target this small?!"

Green Arrow responded by being irritating. A smug little grin found its way onto his face and he laughed, "I'm just that good."

Did he think this was a joke?!

Hal used every ounce of his control to keep himself from creating a lethal construct to bash against this guy's head. He spoke in a deep snarl, "How much did you hear?! One of the people I've seen since then is a child. If you're thinking about using him to get to me, then you're an idiot. I'll make sure you never _leave_ this tunnel!"

"What the – I'm not some supervillain! I'd never hurt a _kid!_ I was just trying to make a point. You can't follow me around for months and then get all mad when I fight back!" Green Arrow lowered his bow and replaced the arrow in his quiver. He smacked Hal on the side of his head and crossed his arms angrily. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Ahh!" Hal rubbed his head, taken off guard. He narrowed his eyes at Green Arrow and felt a little bit of his anger being replaced with confusion. "What's – I – you can't hit me!"

"I just did," Green Arrow looked like he was about to start laughing again. Hal lunged towards him and he backed up quickly, holding out his hands to ward him off. "Okay, okay! Just calm down. Clearly we're not enemies. I know who you are and I could tell from listening in on you that you're watching me for the Justice League."

Hal crossed his arms and stuck out his jaw impetuously.

"You also think I'm awesome."

"_I've changed my mind!"_ Hal ground out shrilly.

"Look, I'm not interested in fighting you, but I don't want to be watched anymore. It makes me nervous," He extended one hand out towards Hal for a handshake. "So, I've got a solution: fight side by side with me and I'll take off that tracer. Everybody wins. You get to observe me from up close, and I get some help taking down a major drug ring."

Hal eyed him suspiciously for a long minute, getting the same feeling that he did whenever Barry outsmarted him, "You set this up, didn't you?"

"Yes I did," Green Arrow smiled broadly, not budging an inch. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, I guess," Hal shook his hand, deflating a little. "What do you need me to do?"

"Beat the ever loving snot out of some drug dealers," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the dark pipe extending behind him.

"That's simple enough," Hal relaxed his guard and stared down the tunnel a bit.

"_And_ fun," Green Arrow was barely containing his glee. He selected one of his arrows and fit it against the bow. "I have a big thing against drugs."

"Should I put that on your Justice League application?" Hal asked sarcastically.

"You absolutely should," He laughed loudly, leading the way towards his own orchestrated drug bust. "Now, I only have one requirement; you've gotta destroy every ounce of cocaine we find."

"Okay," Hal agreed easily. He didn't really deal with drugs as a Green Lantern; his specialty was physically defending planets and fighting aliens. Every now and then he dealt with a smuggler trying to sneak contraband onto one of the planets in his sector, but he left Coast City's drug dealers to the police. It wasn't because he didn't care or anything. He just didn't know much about it. "Is there any kind of plan?"

"Well, you're the big gun, so you go in first, do your thing, and I'll work around you," Green Arrow offered good-naturedly. He wasn't territorial or big headed – that was refreshing. "They're right at the end of this tunnel where it converges into a hub."

"That's it?" Hal cocked his head to the side, taken aback. This wasn't going at all like he'd expected it to. "Do you know how many there are? What they're armed with?"

Green Arrow shrugged, "Nothing that we can't handle. Honestly, I don't even know if they're down here right now. I heard about them this morning and thought I'd pop down and check it out."

Hal couldn't accurately respond for a few seconds. He just stared at Green Arrow and puzzled over his blunt honesty and impulsiveness. He was totally insane – his _plan_ was astoundingly stupid. Go in completely blind and just wing it? Stupid.

And yet…

It was exactly the sort of idiotic thing that Hal had done countless times in the past.

A ridiculous grin wormed its way onto his face, and Hal's ring flared up with excitement. He slapped Green Arrow on the shoulder and fixed him with a sly grin, "I like you."

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Barry carried his armful of dishes into the pristine kitchen and set them in the sink. Sue thanked him with a big smile and pulled on a pair of industrial rubber gloves. She started filling the dish tub with water and way too much soap. "Sue, I can do those."

"No you can't," she slapped him away sternly. "You're a guest. Besides, Ralph and I have our rule: if one of us cooks, the other does the dishes."

"Is there anything I _can_ do?" Barry stepped back to give her space.

"Go relax," she replied sunnily, splashing suds everywhere as she scrubbed a plate. With her background as a rich socialite, Barry would not have pegged her as one to like housework, but she seemed to love playing housewife. She and Ralph didn't have a single maid.

"Okay…" he said awkwardly, shuffling back outside where Ralph was covering the grill up with a tarp.

"Sue kick you out?" he asked knowingly.

"Yeah," Barry gave a helpless shrug and stared out at the just setting sun shining over the massive backyard. "She never lets me help."

"No one's allowed to help when she's in her hostess mode," Ralph laughed a little. He finished up quickly and tried to nonchalantly sidle up to him without being obvious. It wasn't an awful attempt, but Barry had gotten used to spotting the signs that someone was about to inquire about 'how he was doing'. "So…this thing with your powers…have you ever thought about going to a therapist about it?"

Barry scrunched up his face in distaste, "I uh don't think they'd be able to help with that particular problem – y'know, secret identity and all."

"Well, just pretend it's something else," Ralph frowned, thinking hard about it. "Like, uh…"

"I think I'd just rather not," Barry tried to politely shut him down. He knew Ralph was only concerned about him and trying to help, but he did _not_ want to talk about it. Hal was the only one who could speak to him without making it feel like he was walking on eggshells. Of course, Hal had made nearly _every_ major mistake in the book, but he treated Barry just like he normally did.

"Okay," Ralph backed off. He scratched the back of his red hair and sighed. "So, no therapist. Got it. What about that Martian Manhunter guy? Isn't he telepathic? You could-"

"_Ralph! Barry!"_ Sue started frantically yelling for them from inside the house. "_Come quick!"_

Temporarily taking a break from heroing or not, Barry's reflexes were still top notch. He was running for the house full tilt and clearing the living room before Ralph even got to the back door. Sue was standing in the middle of the kitchen clutching a sudsy serving dish to her chest. Her eyes were glued to the small TV built into the wall above the counter and she seemed oblivious to the water steadily dripping onto her feet.

"What's wrong?!" Barry followed her gaze with his own eyes and moved a little closer to see the screen better.

It was playing a live news report featuring one of GBS's reporters standing in front of a cluster of fire trucks, SWAT vehicles, and armed officers taking cover behind squad cars and barricades. She was clutching a microphone and alternating between staring at the camera and warily glancing at something to her left, _"For those of you tuning in just now, I am here at the scene of what appears to be a very tense hostage situation. Approximately ten minutes ago, Heat Wave forced his way inside a popular children's arcade, injuring several of the business' employees in the process, and is now holding five-year-old Alicia Collins and all of the building's occupants hostage. Alicia is the daughter of state senator Kimberly Collins. Heat Wave is demanding that Senator Collins pay a ransom of $100,000 for her daughter's safe return. He's given a very unforgiving two hour deadline, and if the money is not delivered in that time frame, he will burn down the building along with everyone inside."_

The camera panned away from the reporter and showed a good shot of the arcade from across the street. The front doors were busted and torn off their hinges, and several half melted cars smoldered in the parking lot. The camera zoomed in on the lettered sign hanging across the front of the building, and Barry's heart leapt into his throat. It read 'Galaxy Zone' – the very same play place that he'd dropped Wally off at hours earlier.

_"A statement taken from one of the injured workers recovered from the scene by officers numbers the people inside at anywhere from seventy to eighty. At least fifty of those individuals are children under the age of eleven,_" the reporter's voice accompanied the shot of the building. "_We have yet to identify any of hostages, but several parents of the children inside say that little Alicia was there for a friend's birthday party. We're still waiting for an update on whether or not the ransom is being gathered, but police are already formulating a plan to rescue those trapped inside._"

"Is that where Wally is right now?" Ralph asked in closed-throat dread. Barry could barely make himself nod in response. His son was in the same building as Heat Wave – being held _hostage_ by Heat Wave – arguably one of the most volatile of the Rogues. Even if the exchange of money took place and everything went perfectly, there was no guarantee that Heat Wave wouldn't torch everyone inside anyway just because he felt like it. He started to imagine Wally crouched into a ball, surrounded by flames, and crying for help as the fire ate its way closer and closer. His mind violently shut out the image to protect itself, but it was too late.

Barry staggered back as his knees buckled, and he clutched his hair. If Wally was hurt…if he _died_… He was the very center of Barry's universe. If anything happened to his son, Barry knew he would never recover – not from that loss.

Ralph jumped into action, grabbing Barry's shoulder for a brief second before he started to dash out of the kitchen towards the back of the house where he kept his Elongated Man uniform, "Don't worry, Barry! I've got this. Wally's gonna be fine!"

The news report showed a picture of Heat Wave's charred and heavily burnt face beside a mug shot from a previous arrest and his real name – Mick Rory.

Barry glared at Mick's face murderously, and he felt himself preparing the muscles in his legs to run. He wasn't going to let _anything_ happen to his son.

Without a word, he tapped into his forgotten speed and found it ready and waiting for him. Barry zoomed past Ralph like he was standing as immobile as a statue and headed straight to Englewood to his own house. The rings he stored his costume in had been callously stashed deep into a tool chest in the garage. Barry retrieved one and half a second later was pulling on the Flash uniform that he hadn't touched in over six months.

The last time he'd worn it, he'd felt like a pathetic impostor. He'd immediately ripped it off and wanted to destroy it for good. This time, the thought didn't even occur to him. Barry hardly even recognized what it meant that he was wearing the uniform again. He just needed it to conceal his identity while he was beating the living daylights out of Heat Wave.

Barry tore out of his house like a whirlwind and was speeding towards the heart of Central City. He wasn't anything more than a streak of red and a gust of wind to anyone he passed on the streets, but Barry saw everything he passed clear as day. He was in the city within seconds, and at the police barricade soon after. He came to a halt right beside Captain Frye and caught the megaphone that he fumbled in his shock. Barry tried to hand it back, but Darryl wouldn't move. All of the officers that had noticed him were motionless, standing with eyes wide and mouths hanging open.

Barry was used to people looking like they were standing still while he was running, but not when _he_ was stopped.

Captain Frye's arm spasmed a little, but he eventually took the megaphone. The awestruck expression on his face gave way to disbelief, and he leaned back a little like he needed a better look, "Flash…?"

Barry nodded briskly. He had no time to waste explaining why he was back, "Your rescue plan is too risky – we both know how unpredictable Heat Wave can be."

"You have a better idea?" Frye asked without even a hint of bitterness in his voice. He didn't seem to like the idea of his officers and SWAT trying to sneak up on Heat Wave either.

"Leave it to me," Barry told him. "I'll get Heat Wave clear of the area and you can start safely evacuating the building."

"Good luck," Darryl ordered his men to stand down and grabbed Barry's arm before stepping back. "Just so you know, it's damn good to see you again, Flash."

Barry didn't say anything back. He didn't know how to tell him that this was just a onetime thing because Heat Wave was threatening his son, and _no one_ was going to lay a finger on Wally while Barry was alive. He zipped towards the side of the building to the right of the front doors and placed both hands against the concrete wall. His whole body started vibrating, and Barry waited until he was at the right frequency before he stepped through the wall to the other side.

He came out in a far corner of the vast play place, and ducked behind a skee ball machine. All around him, loud music, beeps, game sirens, and the noises from every arcade station went off in a distracting cacophony. It was eerily absent of laughing, hyper children, so Barry crept closer through the machines until he got to the eating area. All the children and supervisors were quietly gathered together there at the tables in front of a stage where an animatronic puppet show played every hour.

Heat Wave was on the stage melting the giant puppets one by one to pass the time. He had the little girl, Alicia, tied up by herself at one end of the stage, but he was stalking back and forth restlessly several feet away. It would be easy to grab him and get him outside so they could fight without risking anyone innocent getting hurt. Plus, Barry had the element of surprise on his side. Heat Wave wouldn't be expecting Flash to be here to stop him – not after how long he'd been gone.

But before he even started this – where was Wally?

Barry stayed hidden and scanned all the tables for his son. His eyes darted from person to person lightning fast and he counted out all the redheads in the room. Only three. He quickly picked out which one was Wally – the smallest child in the middle of the group. Barry could only see the back of his head, but there was no doubt it was him. Wally was sitting very still in sharp contrast to the crying, squirming kids around him. Barry couldn't tell if he was scared or not, but he looked uninjured and that was enough for now.

At the table beside Wally's, a toddler started crying just a bit too loudly and her mother rushed to quiet her along with one of the Galaxy Zone workers.

Heat Wave whirled on them, red hot fissures crackling along his bare arms. His eyes glowed behind his goggles and he hurled a fireball at the ground in front of the stage, "Will you _shut that brat up?!"_

All of the kids screamed in terror, and Barry set his mouth into a grim line and launched himself at the food court. He streaked between the tables and hit Heat Wave in the side with the force of a bus. Mick hit the ground hard and sat there in a daze for a moment, giving Barry time to speed around the small fire in a circle and create a vacuum to extinguish it.

He heard someone yell 'Flash!' from the tables when he came to a stop. Heat Wave looked up in bewilderment at his name, but Barry didn't give him any time to recover. He grabbed the criss-crossing straps over Mick's charred chest and hauled him right through the front doors. Barry vibrated himself through the glass, but Heat Wave took dozens of shards to his face and torso. He rolled to his feet in the parking lot with the line of police officers at his back and faced Barry with a cautious set to his body.

Neither of them moved for a minute, and Barry realized that Heat Wave was waiting for him to make the first move. In the past when he fought the Rogues, he never gave them a chance to act – they were always _reacting_ to his attacks. Heat Wave probably didn't have any idea _what_ he was doing.

"What – no snappy comment today?" Mick set himself on fire and the shards of glass stuck in him melted and dripped down his skin. "You sure you're the Flash? How do I know you're the real deal?"

Barry found himself smirking suddenly. He darted across the parking lot and slammed his fist into Heat Wave's jaw, hooked an arm under his knee, and flipped him onto his face all in less than a heartbeat. Barry rested his hands on his hips and rocked back on his heels, "Still have any doubts?"

Heat Wave gave a great snarl of fury and blasted a ring of fire out from himself in a circle. Barry bent backwards beneath the flames, wincing when he felt the heat searing by overhead. He braced his weight on one knee and directed a funnel of air at Mick by rotating his arms. Barry rocketed after him and dragged him out of city limits, hurling Mick into a roadside billboard once he found a deserted stretch of highway.

The Rogue connected with the sign with a loud 'thwack' and the momentum bent it all the way to the ground. Mick tumbled off into a heap, gasping for air and curled up in a ball. Tiny bits of flame sprouted up here and there on his body like daisies, so Barry graciously stamped them out. Heat Wave half-consciously threw an arc of flames at him that Barry easily side-stepped, "I wouldn't move if I were you. Looks like you've got a few broken bones there."

Mick gasped out something that sounded like 'overkill', and Barry gently nudged his broken leg with the toe of his yellow boot. Mick howled in agony and floundered to get away.

"I don't know how you can talk to me about overkill when you were just threatening to burn down a building full of _children_," Barry sighed. He bent down and grabbed a fistful of Heat Wave's straps, hauling the downed villain to his feet. "This is the _minimum_ punishment you get. I know I haven't been gone long enough for you to possibly forget _that_."

Half of Mick's face was swollen and bleeding, and the lenses of his goggles were both busted. He still managed to glare at Barry and wheeze out a few words, "We…hoped you were dead…"

"What – you and the Rogues? Aww, you're not that lucky," Barry laughed at him sympathetically. He punched him in the face once more and Heat Wave went limp in his arms. With practiced ease, Barry hefted Mick onto his shoulders and ran back into town, feeling curiously lighter than he had in what felt like years. He hadn't thought it would be this easy to slip back into the role, but it turned out to be just like riding a bike.

He dropped Heat Wave off at the metacriminal containment division at the riverside police station. Just like at the strip mall, the officers here all gaped at him openly. A few of them even started clapping when he came running in like they'd overheard the chatter on the radio and were expecting him. Barry just shrugged it off, feeling uncomfortable and detached from the whole thing. Not in a million years would he have expected the people of Central City to miss him this much. He gave the booking officers a brief rundown of what happened and made a quick exit the moment he could.

Barry zoomed into an old, closed down coffee shop where he kept a burn bag with spare clothes and emergency supplies in it. He changed out of his costume and scrubbed the peeling skin off his jaw where Heat Wave had burned him a little. His accelerated healing took care of the redness in a matter of seconds and then Barry was hailing a taxi to take him the rest of the way to Galaxy Zone so that he could look like a normal worried parent just arriving.

He spent the ride clutching his head and feeling oddly dizzy – he didn't know what to think about taking down Heat Wave. Somehow, he had the sinking suspicion that he'd just made a huge mistake. He'd gone out as Flash… What now? People would think he was back for good. They'd been _happy_ to see him. Barry didn't know yet what his own opinion was. He hadn't really stopped to think about it when he'd dashed off after Heat Wave. Saving Wally and all those children had been the only thing on his mind, and right not all he cared about was double checking that his son wasn't hurt.

The cab pulled into the tail end of the traffic jam caused by the police road blocks, so Barry handed the driver a fistful of cash and jumped out onto the sidewalk. He sprinted the four blocks at normal human speeds and barely remembered to pretend to be winded when he reached the roped off perimeter. One of the officers on crowd control held out a hand to stop him, but Barry showed him his ID, "My son is in there. Wally West – he's a short little redhead, four years old-"

The officer cut him off and let him through the yellow tape. Barry jogged through the crowd of police, parents, and children looking for Wally. It looked like more ambulances had been called while he was taking care of Heat Wave. There were firemen and paramedics everywhere treating people for shock and bringing a steady stream of hostages out of the building. To his left, a tearful mother was hugging her son. Behind him, an officer was gathering children and attempting to find out their names and phone numbers to contact their guardians. The Galaxy Zone workers were giving statements to the police and gesturing wildly to illustrate as they spoke. A line of reporters and cameramen were crowded up against the yellow tape trying to call people over for quotes and interviews, and snapping photos of the victims. In the past, that would've been Iris – hiding her press badge and sneaking under the line to get her interviews first.

Barry took a deep breath and turned his back on them, searching for a flash of bright orange hair. He found Wally perched on the trunk of a squad car with a dark green blanket draped over his shoulders. Captain Frye was standing next to him and looked like he was explaining how his megaphone worked.

Barry felt relief almost physically knock him over. He ran the rest of the way to them, "Wally!"

Darryl turned around in surprise, and Wally hopped off the back of the cruiser with an impossibly huge smile on his face. He tossed the blanket aside and sprinted towards Barry waving his arms about in frantic excitement, "Daddy! _Daddy!"_

Barry caught him halfway and knelt on the street, hugging him to his chest. He started checking Wally all over for injuries just in case he'd somehow acquired any in the last few minutes, "Are you okay?! Does anything hurt? You're not burned, are you?"

Wally didn't appear to have registered what he was saying at all. He just grabbed the sides of Barry's face in his little hands and kept smiling like he'd just come back from the best day of his life instead of a life-threatening hostage situation. That's when Barry realized that Wally didn't look traumatized _at all_.

Every other child in the area was crying, clinging to an adult in terror, or shaking like a leaf. _Wally_ had dry eyes, the brightest smile Barry had _ever_ seen on his face, and was trembling from pure happiness instead of fear.

He was jumping up and down ecstatically like he needed to be sedated, "Daddy, I saw the Flash! I saw Flash!"

Barry froze in utter shock. _That's_ what he was so beside himself about…?

"He was so cool!" Wally gushed breathlessly, "Flash ran in and-and he punshed the fire man like _pow!"_

He acted out and the fight and nearly fell over when he put all of his weight into one punch. Bewildered, Barry steadied him and kept Wally upright.

"And fire man fell down," Wally said with wide eyes, throwing his arms out wide. "Then Flash turned to a _tornado!_ And he-"

"Okay, okay. _Breathe_, please," Barry tried to calm him down, watching him warily. Wally took in a giant gulp of air, but kept fidgeting in Barry's arms.

"I was worried that he was in shock," Captain Frye strolled over with an amused look on his face. He gestured at Wally with the megaphone. "But he's just happy as a clam."

Wally looked up at him and then back at Barry, nodding frantically in agreement, "I'm a clam!"

Barry was still too startled to laugh at that.

"I'm under strict orders to ask Flash to sign this party plate the next time I see him," Darryl held up a small Galaxy Zone paper plate that had orange pizza grease still smeared on it. He had the most serious look on his face when he spoke.

"Why…?" Barry was at a loss.

"For a soo_neer!_" Wally said in an exasperated sort of tone.

Barry stared at him for a moment before he deciphered the word, "A souvenir?"

"Yeah," Wally nodded happily at being understood.

"You want a souvenir from the day that you got attacked by a supervillain?" Barry's eyebrows pulled together in concern.

"No," Wally sighed and rolled his eyes in a very distinctly Hal-like way. "From when I saw Flash. He's back! He's back!"

Barry grew silent and sank the rest of the way to the ground. He felt his heart constrict suddenly and his eyes start burning. The very moment that the first tear fell, Wally's smile faltered and he touched Barry's cheek sadly, "What's wrong, Daddy?"

Barry just took in one broken breath and wrapped his arms around his son, burying his face in Wally's shoulder. Wally didn't fight the embrace. He hugged Barry's neck immediately.

"Daddy…?"

"Nothing's wrong, kiddo," Barry wiped his eyes with his sleeve and gave Wally a watery smile. He'd been looking for a reason to stop hating himself for so long, and here it was right in front of him. Wally had never hated Flash at all. He'd missed him and was elated to see him fighting crime again. "I'm happy."

Wally's worried expression transformed into a smile with a gasp and he jumped up and down again, "You're happy Flash is back, too?!"

Barry laughed at his enthusiasm and nodded back, "I am."

"Can we paint my room red?"

"Sure."

"With lightning bolts!"

"Whatever you want."

"I want seven lightning bolts!"

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"And _then_, I went to shoot the guy's feet, and my damn _bowstring_ was broken!"

Hal cracked up laughing and took a drink from his beer, "What happened after that?"

"I got the tar kicked out of me," Green Arrow said like it was obvious. He rolled up his left sleeve and showed Hal a thin line of discolored skin on his bicep. "That's how I got this one. Five staples. I couldn't pull a bowstring for a solid _week_."

"Pfft," Hal snorted at him. "That's nothing. First day of Lantern training, Kilowog hit me so hard in the head that I was out for three days. I still can't remember most of what happened."

Green Arrow tipped back his own bottle of beer and sniggered in response, "What's a Kilowog?"

"Big scary alien," Hal raised both his eyebrows to demonstrate how scary. "But he's a good guy. Taught me everything I know."

"Well, he did a damn good job," the archer held out his bottle to Hal and nodded. "That was a mean fight down in those sewers, and you kicked some serious ass."

"You weren't too bad yourself," Hal clinked his bottle against Green Arrow's. They'd wrapped up the drug bust fairly quickly and had gone to grab a drink afterwards. He guessed that they must look pretty strange sitting in the middle of a Star City bar in full costume and chatting it up like old buddies – if the wide eyed looks they were getting from the other bar patrons were anything to go by. "I wasn't expecting them to have bombs, though…"

"Me neither," Green Arrow glanced down at his singed tunic and shrugged. "But that's the fun of it, right? The unexpected. I'm surprised you went along with me, honestly."

"Well, I kind of have a reputation for being fearless," Hal gave him a pleased smile and brought his bottle up to his lips. Then he paused a little when he heard Barry's voice in his head and had to admit, "And stupid…"

Green Arrow laughed loudly and downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. He was definitely okay in Hal's book. Hopefully the rest of the Justice League liked him, because Green Arrow would be a really great addition.

A flicker of red in the corner of his eye caught Hal's attention and he glanced up at the big screen TV behind the bar. It was tuned to GBS and broadcasting a news report from Central City. Hal watched the blond reporter speak with the volume muted for a few seconds, and then it cut to a clip of a strip mall and dozens of police with their guns trained on the building. The clip showed a figure bursting through the glass doors of the building and tumbling across the parking lot. Then, a red blur that Hal had seen countless times, streaked after him. The screen cut back to a news anchor, and Hal nearly fell over in his rush to reach over the bar and point at the TV, "Whoa! Hey, can you turn that up?!"

"Y-Yes, sir," the bartender stammered, just about jumping out of his skin while he fumbled with the remote.

_"-Wave is now in custody pending a trial, but that's not the big news of the day. The incident at Galaxy Zone is the first marked appearance of the Flash in over half a year. Central City is no doubt relieved to see their beloved Scarlet Speedster on patrol again, and I for one hope he's here to stay. The Flash didn't stick around to answer questions about his sudden return after handing Heat Wave over to the authorities an hour ago, so we can only speculate as to what brought him to put on the red and yellow once more. The only thing we know for certain is that he hasn't lost his touch since he's been gone."_

"Oh my God…" Hal whispered to himself. Barry had gone out as the Flash. He'd put on the costume again.

"What – you know him?" Green Arrow glanced between Hal and the screen blankly, at a loss.

"He's my best friend," Hal answered automatically, still not taking his eyes off the television. The report played the clip of Flash tearing off camera at the speed of sound with Heat Wave under his arm.

"_Oh_," Green Arrow straightened up in his seat, surprised. "Then…you know where he's been all this time. Wow…half a year… He's been gone a long time."

"Yes, he has." A wide smile nearly split Hal's face in two and he made a beeline for the door, only stopping to look over his shoulder and toss Green Arrow a short wave. "Sorry, Robin Hood, I've gotta run. Catch ya later!"

"You know where to find me," Green Arrow didn't seem upset at all. He just ordered a round for the whole bar and returned the wave.

Hal took flight the second he got outside, lifting into the air and heading east as fast as his ring would take him. He pulled his cell phone out of the ring's pocket dimension and dialed Barry's number, "Come on….pick up, pick up."

_"Hello?"_ Barry's voice asked over the line.

"Are you by yourself?" Hal asked immediately, not bothering with saying 'hi' back.

_"I'm alone in the room…but Wally's upstairs," _Barry said uncertainly.

"Holy shit, Bear!" Hal yelled into the phone so he could be heard above the roar of the wind. "You couldn't even give me a call to let me know you were about to make your big, badass comeback? What's that about?! I wanted to be there!"

He heard Barry give a weird sort of laugh on the other end, _"Sorry; it just…happened."_

"Did you just laugh?" he frowned in surprise. He could actually _hear_ a lightness in his best friend's voice. "Are you smiling right now? You totally are, aren't you?!"

This time, Barry laughed sort of sheepishly, _"Maybe."_

"I can't believe it!" Hal grinned at the darkening sky. "What changed your mind?"

_"Wally was in trouble."_

His good mood took a sudden dive, and Hal panicked for a second, "What?!"

_ "He's fine. It's all fine," _Barry reassured him quickly. _"It's just…I didn't think twice, y'know. He was in trouble, so I put on the uniform and went to go save him."_

"This is so great!" Hal did a barrel roll in midair, pumping his fist excitedly. Then he remembered the news report. "Wait. You're back for good, right? This was the turning point, wasn't it? You're gonna be Flash again?"

_"I'm already Flash again,_" Barry answered right away. Hal didn't think his smile could get any bigger. _"Oh, hold on. Ralph's trying to ask me something."_

"Wait, Ralph's there? Why is Ralph there but _I'm_ not? I thought you said it was just you and Wally," Hal frowned at the phone as if that would make Barry able to see it. "Unacceptable."

_"Ralph knows my identity. I assumed that you asked if I was by myself in case Wally was close enough to overhear."_

"Unacceptable."

_"Don't be like that. I was at Ralph's earlier when I ran off. He and Sue wanted to make sure everything was okay."_

"Negative, Speedster. I'm on my way right now and you had better not be all celebrated out by the time I get there, cause this party's going to go on all the way into next _week_," Hal snapped the phone shut and focused on breaking his record for how fast he could make it to Missouri.

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"Okay, but Wally's bedtime is eight o clock," Barry said right as he heard the dial tone signaling that Hal had hung up on him. He shook his head with a smile and hung up the land line phone.

"Daddy! I can't reach the stickers!"

Wally was yelling for him from upstairs. He'd already begun planning the remodel of his bedroom. The plans already included red walls, lightning bolt stickers, a Flash cardboard cutout, a swimming pool, and a 'real live dinosaur'. Barry didn't have the heart to squash his dreams about the last two just yet.

"You're taking down the Green Lantern stickers?" Barry cringed as he made his way up the stairs. Hal was gonna throw a fit over that. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket suddenly.

"Flash is cooler!"

Ooh, Hal was definitely going to have a seizure. Barry smiled, pulling out his phone to check it. Someone had sent him a new message. He clicked on it and two words popped up on the screen.

'Welcome back.' – B

Barry smiled at the text for a few seconds before replacing the phone in his pocket and whispering under his breath, "Thanks, Bats…"

He was going to have to stop by Mt. Justice tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

Hal leaned against the wall beside the front gates of Central Elementary School. He had his hands shoved in the pockets of his leather flight jacket and was looking out at the front grounds from behind aviator shades. Coast City was nice and all, but Central City was ridiculously pretty this time of year. The leaves were all turning yellow and red; it was somehow both perfectly cool _and_ warm at the same time, and the whole city was bathed in golden sunshine _all the time_. He almost wanted to relocate here permanently, but Carol would probably kill him if he tried to leave Ferris Aircraft.

They weren't together anymore – Hal was pretty sure that ship had finally sailed for good this time. From the very first moment they'd met, it had been nothing but on again and off again for years. It was actually relieving to be done and over with it. When things had been good, they were great, but when they weren't, the fights lasted for _weeks_.

Hal was swearing off girlfriends for awhile.

Of course, that didn't stop him from being a smooth, lady killer. Green Arrow had spotted a pretty thing up in Star City that had caught his eye and he was constantly calling up Hal to ask him for advice on how to woo her. It had been two years since they'd met, and he and Oliver had been on a first name basis for a long time.

They'd hit it off spectacularly well, and within months Oliver was invited to join the Justice League. They were good friends now, and when Hal was good friends with someone, he had no trouble telling them to shut the hell up about whatever bombshell blonde with a voice like a 'thousand screeching angels' was running around Star City kicking more ass than him.

Thankfully, he had Central City to escape to when California got just a bit too crowded.

Hal took a deep breath of crisp, early autumn air, and rolled his head over to look at the street. School was almost out, and there was a long line of buses on one side of the street and moms waiting to pick up their kids on the other.

The moms didn't like him.

Hal could tell because every driver side window on every minivan was rolled down, and for some reason the women thought that if they had sunglasses on he couldn't tell that their faces were pointed directly at him. He just pulled his flight jacket tighter and tried to keep acting clueless. They probably thought he was a pedophile lurking around waiting to snatch some kid.

The bell needed to hurry up and ring already, because Hal didn't want to deal with one of these women deciding to call the cops on him. He kind of wished that Barry had written a note for him.

'I, Barry Allen, give Hal Jordan permission to pick my son up from school. He's irresponsible, and kind of a manchild, but totally _not_ a child molester.'

Hal chuckled to himself. Yeah, that was pretty much word for word what he would write.

He shifted his weight back and forth between each foot, getting more restless as the minutes dragged on. Finally, it hit 1:30, and the release bell went off. Hal sighed in relief and stayed out of the way while the fourth and fifth graders came tearing out in a mad stampede. Then, the younger grades let out, and last the preschoolers and kindergarteners plodded out.

Hal grinned and pushed off from the wall when he spotted Wally's mop of red hair sticking out from the crowd. He was bouncing down the front steps and chattering away with another boy his age.

Hal walked toward him and stopped at the end of the sidewalk, waiting to be noticed. Wally waved goodbye when his little friend found his mom, and looked up to search for the bus. Hal just stayed perfectly still and watched Wally's mouth form a perfect 'O' when he recognized who it was.

His face broke out into a giant smile and he sprinted right for Hal, his glaringly red Flash backpack jumping with every step he took, "_Uncle Hal!_"

Hal laughed when Wally leapt at him and grabbed onto his arm, swinging on it like a monkey. He lifted his arm up and let Wally dangle a few feet off the ground, "Hey, little man."

"What are you doing here?" Wally let go and dropped to his feet, hugging Hal around the hips.

"I thought you'd like to skip the bus today and hang out with your coolest uncle," Hal scooped him up and stuffed Wally under his arm like a basketball. The six year old giggled like mad and started squirming to get free. Hal laughed and let him down after a minute. "Your dad isn't going to be home till late tonight, so it's just me and you."

For a second, Wally looked a little crestfallen, but he shook it off quickly. He was doing really well dealing with Barry's sudden absences. Of course, he didn't know that his dad was off fighting crime as the Flash during those short absences. The separation anxiety hadn't been nearly as bad, though. Hal was pretty sure that Wally could tell that Barry was _much_ happier now even if he didn't know the whole reason why. The last two years had done wonders for him – Barry was almost back to his old self.

"Hey," Hal knelt down and squeezed Wally's shoulder. "Your dad wanted me to take you straight home, but what do you say we go grab some ice cream first?"

Wally instantly perked up, "Yeah!"

"Alright, let's go," Hal picked up Wally's Flash book bag by the top handle and slung it over his shoulder. He took Wally's hand and led him across the street towards the closest ice cream parlor. "So, how do you like kindergarten so far?"

"I like it!" Wally skipped along beside Hal's long strides. "I wrote the alphabet today and I stayed in the lines! Tina didn't even do that good."

"Who's Tina?" Hal asked.

"A girl in my class," Wally said somewhat bitterly.

"Do you _like_ her?" he grinned slyly down at the redhead.

Wally made an exaggerated choking sound and stuck out his tongue in disgust, "Eww, no! Girls are gross! And Tina's mean. She pushes me a lot."

Hal laughed, and Wally shot him a dirty look, "That means _she_ likes _you_."

"What…?" he scrunched up his face in confusion.

"If a girl picks on you, it means she likes you," Hal nudged him with his elbow. "No idea _why_, but it does."

"That's stupid…" Wally concluded, mystified.

"Yes it is," Hal nodded sagely. "What else did you do today?"

"I learned to count to two hundred," All thoughts of Tina were suddenly gone, and Wally had a megawatt smile on his face again. "Do you wanna see?"

"_Two_ hundred?" Hal said, impressed. "You had _better_ show me. That's awesome."

Wally happily recited the numbers as they walked, swinging Hal's arm back and forth all the way. When he finished, Hal whistled and ruffled his hair, "Wow, you did such a good job. I'm proud of you. But, you know what?"

"What?"

"I bet you can count higher," Hal said innocently, careful to keep his expression neutral as he baited Wally into the challenge.

He looked unsure for a moment as he thought about it, "We haven't learned that yet…"

"Yeah, but you're really smart. You can do it. Try and figure it out – I'll help you," Hal coached him with an encouraging smile. "What comes after two hundred?"

Wally hesitated for a second, and then looked up unsurely, "201?"

Hal nodded easily, "And after that?"

"202…203…" Wally said slowly, a smile spreading across his face as he gained confidence. "204,205,206-"

He picked it up quickly and rolled with it, puzzling out a few numbers, making a mistake, fixing it, and then powering on again. By the time they reached the ice cream parlor, Wally was working on six hundred. Hal stopped him when they got inside, and curled an arm around his shoulders to pull him flush against his side, "Alright, alright, give it a rest you little genius. I think you've earned your ice cream twenty times over. Go pick out what you want."

"Whatever I want?" Wally hugged him back, grinning like a fool. He ran up to the counter and started looking at all the flavors, pressing his hands against the glass and standing on his toes.

"As long as it's not bigger than your head," Hal shut the door behind him and looked around the little mom and pop store. There were a few tables, and ten stools at the counter. One of the tables was occupied by four women that looked up when they came in, but it was otherwise empty. "Barry will kill me if you make yourself sick."

He would at least threaten Hal with violence. The last time he overloaded Wally with sugar, Barry had gotten crazy eyes and cracked Hal across the jaw. That was the good _and_ bad thing about having a best friend; you could beat the hell out of each other and still be thick as thieves.

Wally chose a strawberry cone and Hal got a milkshake. They took the table next to the giggling ladies and relaxed. Hal rested his arm on the back of his chair and hooked one leg over the other. Wally scooted his seat as close as physically possible to Hal's, and mimicked the pose. Hal resisted the urge to have a hysterical fit over the cuteness and played it cool – only sneaking Wally a goofy grin and curling his arm around his tiny shoulders.

"What did _you_ do today?" Wally asked in a _very_ good imitation of Barry's haughty, mocking inflection when he was accusing Hal of lazing around like a sloth. To be fair, though, Hal did an excellent impression of a sloth.

Hal decided to throw down the accomplishment gauntlet, "Flight tested a new fighter jet in a dogfight against four of the Air Force's best pilots."

"Did you beat them?" Wally asked with big eyes.

"Oh-ho. I _embarrassed _them," he chuckled, preening the feathers of his ego, holding up one hand. Wally reached up and slapped him a high-five, and then dug around in his backpack with one hand.

He pulled out a thick sheet of orange construction paper and smacked it down on the table with answering cockiness, "_I_ drew a picture of a llama."

Hal picked up the picture and inspected it with a raised eyebrow like he was appraising an art piece in a museum, "You're right; yours is better."

Wally beamed, going back to his ice cream with his head held high.

"Can I have this?" Hal nodded towards the paper, thinking about all of Wally's artwork that he had stuck to his fridge back at his loft in Coast City. He would have to get a folder or something, because he was running out of fridge space.

"That one's for Daddy," Wally leaned closer and whispered like it was supposed to be obvious. He fished out a second picture and gave it to him instead. "I made _you_ a shark."

Hal swapped out the pictures and smiled at the new one, "Ah, well, that makes sense because sharks are better. Why's it wearing sunglasses?"

"Because he's a _flying_ shark," Wally managed to get ice cream on his nose. "They keep wind out of his eyes."

"Appropriate," Hal agreed, wiping Wally's nose with a napkin.

Behind them, all the talking had stopped, and Hal glanced over to see the young women all smiling at him adoringly. Hal frowned in confusion, and then the furthest brunette giggled, "Sorry. Your son is just so cute."

The other three all laughed and expressed their vehement agreement. Hal cocked his head blankly and looked sideways at Wally out of the corner of his eyes. They thought Wally was his son…

He mentally tallied up the collective attractiveness of the four women and grinned. Eights and nines all around. Why hadn't he noticed them when he first walked in? Hmm… he'd never used a kindergartener before to pick up women, but what the hell? It was worth a shot.

"Thanks," Hal put on a charming, sheepish act and smiled at them. "I don't know where all that cute came from, cause it sure wasn't from me."

The women all gasped playfully and rushed to assure him that it was.

"What? No, you're so alike!"

"I think more came from you than you think."

"Oh gosh, look! They have the same nose!"

They all let out high-pitched 'awws!' and giggled amongst themselves. Hal played along and laughed with them. Wally was looking at him with a weird expression – like he thought Hal had lost his mind. Hal leaned in close to him and muttered quietly, "If you act as adorable as possible, there'll be another ice cream in it for you."

Wally considered the offer for a second, and flashed Hal an alarmingly deviant grin for a second. He turned to the closest blonde and gave her a dimple-filled smile, "You're pretty…"

She placed her hand over her heart and looked back at her friends like she was about to melt, "Oh my goodness. He is the _sweetest_ little thing!"

Wally suddenly acted embarrassed and shyly hid his face in the sleeve of Hal's jacket.

"Can I take him home and keep him forever?" the brunette gushed. The other three all nodded and laughed.

Hal turned up the charm, resting a hand on Wally's back and tossing a suave wink at the ladies, "Well, we're kind of a package deal, y'know."

_That_ sent them off into another fit of giggles, and one of them flirted back, "_I _wouldn't mind."

Twenty-five minutes later, Wally had a double fudge sundae, and Hal had four phone numbers.

He eyed the digits when they got back to Barry's house, and stuffed them into his pocket, "Wally, this was a mission accomplished. I'm gonna need to get you your wings, cause you're a better wingman than half my friends."

"I have an advantage," Wally smiled impishly.

"I worry sometimes that I'm teaching you bad things," Hal chewed his lip and really studied Wally for a minute. "But I think you've got alike a natural affinity for mischief, and I can't help but feel compelled to nurture it."

"Daddy says that I'm at an impressionable age, and that you do lasting behavioral damage," Wally said immediately.

"Those are some big words…" Hal narrowed his eyes at Wally suspiciously. "Who was he talking to when he said it?"

"Grandpa Jay."

Ugh. Speedsters…

"That figures. Go upstairs and play," Hal gestured upwards lazily. "I'll be down here wallowing in betrayal if you need me."

"Okay!" Wally was unconcerned. He skipped upstairs and out of view almost immediately.

Hal trudged over to the couch and flopped down on it bonelessly, knocking something off the end table with a muffled thud. He groaned and stretched to pick it up blindly, bringing it up to his face. It was a thick book on learning how to speak Greek. Hal turned onto his back and flipped through a few pages, frowning at the unfamiliar letters. He idly wondered how long it took Barry to read the book – probably less than four seconds.

There was a whole stack of books on the coffee table, and Hal pushed a few around to read the titles. There was an English-Greek dictionary, a few other self-teaching manuals, and the next two volumes to the one in Hal's hands. It had probably only taken Barry an hour to become fluent in the language. But, what was he learning it for in the first place?

He set down the book and picked up the laptop from the table instead. Barry had made Hal his own account on the computer since was over four days out of the week, but Hal liked to 'hack' into Barry's account instead. Honestly, his idea of a secure pass code was crap. He typed in the password: 'iriswally56' and tapped the enter key, expecting the desktop to load. The text bar reset and an incorrect password notice popped up.

Hal 'hmm'd' and tapped his fingers on the laptop impatiently. Well, shoot; he'd changed the password. That was weird. It had been 'iriswally56' for like a year and a half. He leaned back and crossed his arms, balancing the laptop on his knees while he thought about what the new password could be. Barry was sentimental, but simple. His passwords were always the names of family members. Maybe it was his mother's name. Hal typed in 'noraallen56' and got another incorrect password notice. He chewed at his lip and tried a few other ideas until the computer took pity on him and asked if he wanted a hint.

He clicked 'yes' and a dialogue box popped up that read: 'lantern'. Hal frowned at it, perplexed, trying to figure out what it meant until a tentative idea came to him. Very slowly, he typed it in one key at a time and paused for a few seconds before hitting enter.

'iriswallyhal56'

The computer unlocked and opened to the internet tabs that Barry had left open when he shut the lid.

A weird feeling prickled at Hal's insides and he frowned at the screen for a long minute in total silence. Barry had changed the password to include Hal's name? He scratched the back of his head distractedly. How long had that been the password? He tried to think back to the last time he used the laptop, but couldn't remember. Why would he change it to _that_? Hal continued to obsess over the change mentally for awhile until he registered what was on the screen in front of his face.

All of the tabs were open to web pages on ancient Greek mythology. Oh, that's right. Barry was helping Diana with something over in Athens. Duh. That's why he learned how to speak Greek.

Hal's attention was pulled from the laptop when he heard footsteps coming down the staircase. When he looked up, he found Wally plodding along into the kitchen wearing something dark green and _way_ too big for him. Hal frowned and shut the laptop, rolling onto his feet and following him into the kitchen, "Everything okay, Wally?"

"Yeah," he heard Wally open the fridge and when he rounded the corner, he saw the kid reaching high up on the door for a juice box. He got what he wanted and shut the door triumphantly, turning around to give Hal a big smile.

Hal almost started laughing so hard that he asphyxiated. Wally had gotten into Barry's closet and was wearing one of his sweater vests. The sleeveless arm holes sagged to Wally's elbows and the hem came down to his knees. "What are you doing?"

"Getting juice," Wally stuck out his tongue in concentration while he poked the straw into the box.

"I meant why are you wearing your dad's clothes?" Hal shook his head in amusement. Wally had a necktie knotted around his waist, clearly because he had no idea what it was for but knew that Barry wore one all the time.

"I can count to six hundred now, so I'm a big boy, so I have to wear big boy clothes," Wally explained very seriously in six year old logic. Hal crouched down to Wally's level and poked the sweater vest.

"Yes, but you don't want to dress like your dad," Hal tried to hold back his snickering. "He has no fashion sense."

Wally looked down at the tie around his waist and examined it closely like he agreed that it was odd but didn't want to say anything.

Hal suddenly had a great idea. He grinned mischievously and jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the door, "How about you and I go out and get you some _real_ big boy clothes?"

Wally pulled off the sweater vest and nodded eagerly, "Yeah!"

"Go get your shoes on," Hal ruffled his hair and jumped up as well. Wally disappeared into the next room and Hal cackled to himself.

Barry was going to be so _mad!_

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"Wow, so… I never thought I'd ever have a _god_ hate me…" Barry was running across the Aegean Sea, keeping pace with Diana who was flying beside him in full costume.

"Don't take it personally," she smiled against the wind, arms extended out in front of her. "Hermes is the fastest of the gods, and you're faster than _him_. He's just jealous. He watches you from Mount Olympus often."

A horrible shiver ran up Barry's spine, and his eye twitched, "That…actually sounds extremely personal."

"If it bothers you-"

"It disturbs me."

"-I have bands that will blind the gods to your presence," Diana smiled at his discomfort. Barry imagined that she was well used to the omniscience of the gods. "I never use them. My armor already has the same enchantments."

"I would owe you a hundred favors," Barry was imagining Hermes perched up on a cloud somewhere stalking him from above.

"How about we call it even for assisting me today?" Diana offered good-naturedly. "I feel guilty for pulling you away from your son, but no one else was available to help."

"No worries," Barry leapt over a cresting wave and focused on keeping his speed slow enough for Diane to match. "Hal's watching him right now, and tomorrow's Saturday, so we'll have all day."

"I would have asked Hal, but… dealing with the gods is delicate work," Diana was trying to phrase it as nicely as possible, and it made Barry smile on the inside. "I feared what he would say if challenged."

Barry could easily imagine Hal getting himself into a fight to the death with Ares or something equally stupid. He had a tendency to say _exactly_ what he was thinking, no matter how ill timed. Strangely though, the idea made him feel a rush of fondness for Hal. "Good call."

"Does he still visit Central City often?" Diana asked curiously.

"He's there nearly the whole week," Barry gave a short laugh. "Either babysitting Wally for me or just checking to see how we're doing. He's left so much stuff at the house that you could probably say that he lives there now."

"I wouldn't have thought it when we first met, but Hal _is_ a very good friend," she looked down at Barry with a small smile that said she felt bad for passing pre-emptive judgment on someone who didn't deserve it.

"I honestly don't know how I would've made it through everything that's happened without him," Barry admitted, letting his eyes glaze over a little as he thought about all the times that Hal had been there for him. He'd been sacrificing almost all of his free time for them and hadn't so much as complained even _once_. It was funny how flaky, immature, impulsive Hal Jordan had become a rock for him to lean on – first with Iris' death, and then with Barry's return as Flash. "And Wally just loves him. He's 'Uncle Hal'. You should see how upset Wally gets when Hal has to go off planet on a Lantern mission."

"That's sweet," Diana said almost wistfully. "I wish that I had a friend who would do that much for me."

They hit the shore of Loutsa, and Barry slowed to a halt on the beach. Diana landed next to him and he pointed to the rowan loop belted at her hip, "I don't know if you're aware, but people who aren't friends don't normally drop everything and race to come help each other steal an ancient magical ward from a Gorgon."

She smiled and lifted the loop to look at it up close as if seeing it in a different light. The sorceress Circe had been making major attempts on Diana's life lately, and she was understandably getting tired of it. Diana had never been one to take things lying down, so she'd started collecting various bits of armor and weapons that would help her against the witch.

"And don't think for a second that Clark or Bruce wouldn't have been here if they weren't busy. You have more friends than you think," Barry told her, resting his hands on his hips.

Diana appeared to be thinking about his words for a moment, looking truly touched. Then, she stifled a laugh, "Isn't Bruce's expertise more in running multi-billion dollar companies and attending parties?"

Barry let out a chuckle and then clapped a hand over his mouth, feeling a little guilty for laughing. That had been the shocker of the decade when Batman had finally revealed who he really was. He'd been the last of the League to share their identity and, for Batman, it was an incredible show of trust – nothing to be laughed at. Although, it was less like him sharing his identity and more like him revealing another mask. Bruce had a sort of reverse secret identity. Batman was his true self and Bruce Wayne was the cover. So, in a roundabout kind of way – if you tilted your head and squinted, they'd known Bruce all along.

It was a little disappointing though that he didn't work a drive through. _Of course_ he'd be a billionaire…

"Hey, it's a damn good secret identity," Barry shrugged. They could poke fun at it all they wanted, but if anyone ever tried to say Bruce Wayne was Batman it would just be written off as tabloid gossip.

"I won't tell him you laughed if you don't tell him I said that," Diana proposed with a wry grin.

"Deal," Barry accepted immediately. He'd seen enough of Hal being on the receiving end of Bruce's wrath and he didn't want any part of it. He very much liked _not_ being banned from Gotham. Hal _still_ wouldn't say what he did to deserve that. "Do you need any more help here, or-?"

"Go be with your family," she rose into the air a few feet and looked to the west, replacing the loop on her belt. "I think I've collected all I need to face Circe should she dare to come after me again."

"Which she will if she's anything like my villains; none of them know when to stop," Barry held up his arms in a helpless gesture. "You know how to reach me if you need anything. I can be there in minutes."

"Thank you," Diana's expression turned serious and her eyes bored deep into Barry's. "You're a good friend. If it's alright, I'd like to visit Central City sometime. It's been nearly two years since I've seen Wally. I could help watch him if you would allow it."

Now it was Barry's turn to be taken by surprise. He blinked a few times to shake it off and nodded, "Uh, sure. That's…really nice of you, thanks. Are you okay with coming out of costume? Wally's still not old enough to be burdened with secret identities."

"It will not be a problem," she promised, waving goodbye before she flew off out of sight.

Barry watched her go for a few seconds and then consulted his mental map of the Earth to pin point exactly where he was and chart what route he needed to get home. Hal was always telling him that he needed to carry around a GPS system, but Barry didn't like to rely on gadgets. They could fail on him. He much preferred to keep the information stored in his head. Studying geographical maps until he had the area memorized was painstaking, but it paid off in the long run.

He pulled up his course in instants, and was tearing across the Mediterranean Sea on his way to Spain and Portugal. Maybe he should pick up dinner along the way… If he secured it well enough, it would definitely survive the trip across the Atlantic. And Hal really liked paella.

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Hal heard the key turn in the lock and he immediately felt a rush of giddy terror rip through his gut. He swung his legs off the couch and ran out of the living room with a ridiculous grin on his face, "Wally! He's here! Hurry up!"

He heard a loud thump from upstairs and then Wally's quick footsteps as he rushed around to get ready, "I'm hurrying!"

"Remember what we planned!" Hal shut off the TV and scrambled to his place by the staircase, turning off lights as he went.

"Okay!"

The front door cracked open and Barry walked in carrying a large bag. He frowned at the dark house and his eyes fell on Hal warily, "Hi…? What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," Hal said innocently, knocking on the wall behind him to signal Wally.

"Why are the lights off…?" Barry set his bag on the couch and shrugged off his jacket. He started glancing about like he was expecting an attack.

"Dramatic effect," Hal answered quickly. He spotted Wally lurking on top of the stairs and flicked on the hallway light to substitute for a spotlight. "Ta da!"

Barry flinched suspiciously at the same time that Wally came hurtling down the stairs, leaping over at least six steps and landing on his hands and feet like a frog. Hal almost rushed to check on him, but Wally just sprang up like rubber and put his hands on his hips in a power stance.

No one said anything for a long time. Wally just beamed and held his pose while Barry stared at him blankly. Hal knew what he was seeing: Wally decked out in a Green Lantern t-shirt and obnoxious green sneakers with a tiny version of Hal's own flight jacket. He looked adorable – but somehow it didn't look like Barry agreed.

"What do you think?" Wally asked excitedly with his arms thrown wide.

Barry smiled at Wally like he was happy, but through his eyes shone murder, "I think it's cool… Where'd you get all that…?"

"Uncle Hal got it for me!" Wally twisted back and hugged Hal around the waist. "He said I wasn't a big boy if I didn't wear green."

Barry's eyes locked onto Hal's, and he felt a shiver crawl up his spine. They'd never been such an icy, lethal blue before… "Did he? Well, he's absolutely right. Since you're such a big boy now, why don't you go set out some plates for us?"

Wally gave him a quick hug too and scampered off to the kitchen, "Okay!"

Hal watched him leave and turned around to find Barry suddenly standing three inches from his face. He squeaked in alarm and tried to jump away, but Barry slugged him in the shoulder, "Ahh!"

"_Really?_ You're using psychological warfare now to make him like you better?" he hissed, keeping his voice low enough so that Wally didn't overhear. "Is this revenge for painting his room red? Cause that was two years ago. You need to let it go."

"Oh, this has just begun," Hal grinned, reaching to flick Barry's forehead. Barry flashed him crazy eyes and slapped his hand away, bopping Hal in the temple. "You're trying to indoctrinate Wally to be a Flash fan, but there are other great heroes out there too."

"That's your reason?" Barry looked unconvinced.

"Yep."

"You're sure it's not because you're making this into some absurd contest about who Wally likes better?" Barry crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the floor _almost_ too fast for a regular human.

Hal shrugged, "I wouldn't think of it."

"Then where is his Batman shirt?"

Hal recoiled, taken off guard, "Uh…what?"

"You heard me," Barry grinned suddenly, and Hal knew that he was about to lose this argument. "Where are his Aquaman shoes? Or his Martian Manhunter lunch box?"

"Uhh…I don't know."

"See? This is _really_ because you're a narcissist," Barry was trying hard not to laugh. Well, crap. Barry had seen through his ploy in seconds.

Hal didn't have his restraint; he chuckled quietly, "Look at him, though! He's like a little me! It's adorable."

"You're just reaffirming the narcissist comment," he sighed, picking up the bag he'd brought and turning on all the lights again.

Hal paused when he caught a whiff of whatever was in the bag. His snarky comeback died in his throat and he followed Barry like a clumsy puppy, "Whoa, I know that smell. Is that paella?"

"From Valencia," he confirmed with an airy sort of indifference.

Holy crap! Barry had brought him real paella from Spain! He leapt forward and grabbed Barry from behind in a bear hug, nuzzling his shoulder blades enthusiastically, "I love you so much!"

Barry stumbled and almost fell over with a cry, "Let go, you dork. Who said this was for _you_?"

"Don't make me beg," Hal refused to let go of him, so Barry dragged them both through the living room. "I can owe you favors."

"Hmm…" Barry shambled along, pretending to think about it.

"_Sexual_ favors," Hal teased, deepening his voice and walking two fingers across Barry's sweater.

"_No_," he laughed, shoving the bag into Hal's arms and slipping out of the hold. "God, not that. Just take the food and go."

"You'd miss me," Hal winked, ignoring the rolled eyes he got in response. He pulled out his phone and pulled up the photo he'd snuck earlier of Wally wearing Barry's sweater. "Here."

Barry looked at the phone curiously and a slow smile stretched across his face. He was completely taken with the picture of his son, so Hal left him alone and helped Wally dish out the food.

Hal couldn't believe that he'd thought it would be a drag when Barry adopted Wally. He remembered feeling worried that his friend would become boring and domesticated, but it ended up just being the natural progression of his character. Barry was a good person, and he was a great dad. It only _added_ to Barry's list of qualities, and Hal actually liked him more because of it.

When Barry came into the kitchen, he sat down at the table and fixed Hal with a grateful look, "So, aside from shopping, what happened today?"

Wally very carefully carried one of the plates to his dad and then climbed onto his lap, "We drew pictures today. I drawed you a llama, and a shark for Uncle Hal, and Grandpa Jay a alligator, and Grammy Joan a flower, and a really tall building for mister giant."

Hal looked up suddenly from behind the counter and frowned at them in confusion. Barry curled an arm around Wally and tried to eat one-handedly, "Mister Giant is Clark."

"_Oh_," Hal snorted with laughter. Yeah, that was a pretty good description of Clark.

Wally chattered on about learning to count, getting a time-out for playing tag in the classroom, what he had for snack time, and basically whatever popped into his head. Barry just listened patiently, smiling calmly and nodding, and making sure Wally took a break to breathe and eat something every few seconds.

The heat from the paella was starting to get to him, so Hal went to the fridge and took a drink of milk straight out of the carton. That's when he heard Wally's little voice go down a dangerous path.

"_Then_, Uncle Hal and I went to get ice cream and he showed me how to 'pick up chicks'."

Hal froze and nearly choked to death on his drink. He quickly screwed the cap back on the milk and replaced it on the shelf, slowly closing the fridge door a little to peer around at Barry.

Barry was glaring at him unhappily over his shoulder while Wally rocked back and forth with an oblivious little smile on his face.

"_Wally,_" Hal hissed through gritted teeth. "That was supposed to be a secret…"

"I didn't tell anyone else," the little redhead insisted.

"It was a secret from _Daddy_."

Wally looked abruptly horrified at the idea, "But I don't wanna keep secrets from Daddy!"

Barry beamed triumphantly while Hal sighed in defeat.

"Kid, I'm gonna have to teach you the fine art of lying," he grumbled and trudged back over to sit across from him and Barry.

"I'm full," Wally announced when Barry tried to get him to eat more.

"Oh, you _are_?" Barry shot Hal a sideways glare, cocking an eyebrow a little smugly. "Maybe that's because of all the ice cream you ate."

Hal expertly avoided the stare and focused on his food, feeling the barest hints of guilt cropping up. Barry could make him feel guilty about _anything_.

"Three more bites, okay?" Barry coaxed Wally to eat a bit more and then he was released to go play. When Wally was out of earshot, Barry flicked a balled up napkin at Hal. "I'm gonna kill you."

"Then who'd be your personal babysitter?" Hal taunted.

"Diana asked to help today," Barry bluffed, and Hal could tell almost immediately. His best friend had a terrible poker face.

"Please! Princess would have _no_ idea what to do with a kid."

"You didn't either at first," Barry didn't look fazed.

Hal decided to stay quiet and not partake in the verbal battle that he would inevitably lose.

"Hey, speaking of Diana and all them," Barry sat upright like he suddenly remembered something. "Clark invited Wally and me to the county fair in Smallville next month if you wanna come with."

"County fair?" Hal grinned. Oh, good lord, country people were so cute. "Is there gonna be a pie eating contest and pony rides?"

"Probably," Barry stared at him like a raptor trying to decide whether or not to eat something. "You gonna make hick jokes all day?"

"_Probably_," Hal said right back.

"Even in front of Superman?"

"Please," he scoffed. "He works in Metropolis; I guarantee you he'd heard worse than I can come up with."

Barry was forced to grudgingly agree, "Well, it's on the sixteenth if you're coming. Wally really wants you there."

"I'll go," Hal laughed. "I can't say no to Wally."

"That makes two of us," Barry sighed, resting his chin on his fist and closing his eyes tiredly.

"Hey…uh…" Hal began, but faltered when Barry looked at him. He wanted to ask about the password and find out why his name was added to it, but he didn't know how to phrase it. Maybe it wasn't anything. Would it be weird to bring it up then? Barry had never gotten mad about him breaking into his account before, but what if he hadn't meant for Hal to figure this one out? Why was Hal even thinking about it? It was _just_ a password… "Um, what time do you want me there?"


End file.
